Security tight outside ANC’s Luthuli House HQ ahead of ‘occupation’ threat
Security is being beefed up outside African National Congress headquarters Luthuli House in central Johannesburg ahead of a planned march on Monday to occupy the building in a bid to demand President Jacob Zuma’s resignation.
At least three SA Police Service nyalas were parked in the area around Luthuli House on Sunday, with barbed-wire on trailers on standby presumably to prevent protesters getting close to the building. Johannesburg metro police had also already closed one of the lanes on Sauer Street which passes outside Luthuli House.
Not many police officers were on the streets, with some sitting in their cars, but the number of vehicles visible showed they were not taking the planned protest lightly.
This comes after calls for mobilisation by “a group of concerned ANC members” and a mass occupation of Luthuli House on Monday.
READ: We want to save the ANC, says #OccupyLuthuliHouse movement
The group includes former Wits University Students Representative Council (SRC) president Mcebo Dlamini, Johannesburg ANC member Sasa Manganye, and former ANC Youth League national executive committee member Ntibi Modise.
The planned occupation of Luthuli House was apparently intended to demand that Zuma and the ANC national executive committee (NEC) resign following the losses the party suffered in the August 3 local government elections.
A media briefing by the group was disrupted by ANCYL regional leaders in Pretoria on Friday. ANCYL regional chairman Lesego Makhubela and others stormed the hotel venue and told the organisers they were not allowed to speak on behalf of the ANC without the party’s consent.
It appears the police are preparing themselves for a showdown when the two groups meet on the streets of Johannesburg on Monday.