Mayor of uMngeni Municipality Chris Pappas. Picture: Supplied.
The fight between the ANC and the DA Mayor of uMngeni (Howick) Local Municipality has left a resident badly injured and reportedly in hospital.
That happened on Friday when ANC members from the Moses Mabhida region (uMgungundlovu District Municipality) faced off with Chris Pappas, the DA mayor of the local municipality, at Mpophomeni Stadium.
The stadium which is owned by the municipality is being contested by the Office of the Premier which wants to stage an imbizo on Saturday where it says it wants to address service delivery issues.
On the other hand, Pappas’s municipality says the stadium is booked for a sports day and that was done way before the Office of Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube booked it later using a local ANC councillor.
In a series of letters between Pappas and Dube-Ncube which has now become public, it became clear that both parties are pushing to use the venue, with the Premier saying Pappas was trying to create a little Orania.
Pappas shot down the claims, saying he was not opposed to the imbizo, but what he was opposed to was the use of the venue.
He insisted that the venue was booked, and they offered the Premier an alternative venue, which she allegedly rejected.
Pappas also said the Premier and her team intended to pitch big marquees on the stadium grounds, thus damaging the grass, and they have limited resources to fix that.
On Friday, Pappas came to the stadium to check it and clashed with ANC supporters from the region.
In a brief statement, Njabulo Mtolo, the spokesperson for the ANC in the region claimed that Pappas hit the unidentified resident and ran away.
“In a desperate attempt to deprive the people of Mpophomeni an opportunity to access much-needed services from the provincial government, Chris Pappas knocked down an innocent resident during what can be discribed (sic) as a hit and run incident. The victim is in a critical condition in hospital.
“A case of attempted murder is being investigated by SAPS, the perpetrator of this horrific crime, Chris Pappas is still at large,” Mtolo claimed in his statement.
However, Francois Rodgers, the leader of the DA in KwaZulu-Natal swiftly denied that, saying Pappas was being attacked by a “mob” of the ANC which was set on him by Mzi Zuma, the ANC mayor of Umgungundlvu district municipality.
"The opportunistic allegations by the ANC Moses Mabhida Region that a child was knocked down and had to be rushed to hospital in a hit-and-run accident is both false and libel.
"Clearly once again this type of behaviour from the ANC shows sheer desperation," he said in a statement.
Rodgers said they would lay criminal charges.
"The DA will now pursue a criminal investigation into the unfounded, opportunistic allegations and illegal entry into the stadium.
"The DA will never be intimidated by the Premier of Kwazulu-Natal and her henchmen."
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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