INLSA
Sharika Regchand
THE ANC activists who staged a sit-in at the party’s regional offices in Pietermaritzburg for more than a month last year believe that their expulsion from the party this week meant that they were being taken seriously.
A spokeswoman for the activists, Sibongile Mkhize, said that eight of the 200 members who participated in the sit-in were informed that they had been expelled from the party.
During the demonstration, they had refused to leave the offices until their grievances were met.
Their key demand was that the ANC regional executive committee be disbanded.
However, the activists had to vacate the premises after the ANC’s provincial executive secured an interdict against them.
Mkhize, who had been an ANC member for more than 30 years, said that although she had been expelled, she had not felt betrayed by the party.
“I don’t take it as the party letting me down; it’s just a handful of leaders who have taken the wrong decision. You can’t be expelled for defending the ANC,” she said adamantly.
Mkhize added that expulsion was the only way to silence them, as the allegations they were making were attracting attention.
The expulsion meant that Mkhize and her colleagues would be unable to participate in ANC processes and that the current regional executive would probably be re-elected.
“This (the expulsion) makes us want to go out and fight corruption… we will fight corruption harder than before,” she said.
According to letters, they were expelled for, among other things, provoking “serious divisions” or a breakdown of unity in the ANC, and undermining respect for and impeding the functioning of the party’s structures.
Mkhize said they would appeal the decision.
