SABC News Online
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has dismissed suggestions that the province has become a no-go area for President Thabo Mbeki.
This follows Saturday's incident where a section of the crowd walked out from Pietermaritzburg's Harry Gwala stadium while Mbeki was delivering a speech.
There have been several similar incidents in the province. However, Senzo Mchunu, the ANC provincial secretary, denies the province is now a no-go area for Mbeki. Mchunu says the president was in the province in September together with Jacob Zuma in Msinga on the celebration of Bhambatha and there was no incidents, also he went to Sisonke district for an imbizo and there was no incident and measures had been taken to look into possible causes of such conduct and behaviour so that will be able to get to the top of the matter, not just to react.
ANC appeals to community
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has also appealed to its members to come forward and help identify the people who disrupted Mbeki's speech on Saturday. Mchunu has appealed to all members of the ANC who were there to assist in that regard.
He says they are mindful though of the fact that not everybody who was there was necessarily an ANC member, there could have been supporters. "We will appeal to our marshals we will also ask for footage of whatever kind to see if there's any wrongdoing on the part of anyone in relation to insults and so on."