Africa-Press – South-Africa. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says VIP protectors shouldn’t just use blue lights willy nilly, but that on-duty officers should use them in the event of a threat.
He said: “It’s not just used at random when you visit your friend for a drink and so on. Blue lights are not a problem; the problem is the behaviour. Police have got … discretion, guided by the law, to act where they see [a] threat.”
Mbalula was speaking after a video surfaced of Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s protectors attacking people, causing much outrage.
“That’s why we say, as the ANC, that if they (the protectors) are wrong, there must be consequences,” he said, adding that the public “only saw snippets” and did not have the full story.
On Tuesday, IPID confirmed that the officers had been suspended pending a probe.
Mbalula also gave an update on the ANC’s national working committee meeting (NWC), a structure of 20 senior party members, on Tuesday.
The secretary-general said the NWC “welcomed” the acting Public Protector’s report which absolved President Cyril Ramaphosa of wrongdoing in the Phala Phala matter.
The Public Protector found that Ramaphosa did not violate the Executive Members Ethics Act in relation to a robbery at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo, during which thousands of US dollars were stolen.
“The ANC welcomes the Public Protector report, which found nothing untoward in the conduct of the president, including the fact that there was no evidence of paid work outside of his duties as president of the republic. The ANC reiterates its alarm at the attacks on the integrity of the office of the Public Protector, merely because some disagreed with the report of the Public Protector.
“We view such attacks as undermining our democracy and constitutionalism,” Mbalula said.
At least two political parties have indicated they intend to take the report on review.
“Political parties have the right to take the Public Protector’s report on review at any given time. But to impugn and attack the integrity of a woman who is leading the process, without any legal basis, for that matter, is incorrect. Matters must be probed; we are a country that respects the rule of law,” Mbalula said.
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