Cape Town – The ANC must dismiss councillor Loyiso Nkohla for inciting the violence that occurred in the Cape Town CBD on Wednesday, the DA said.

“The actions by members and supporters of the ANC Youth League, led by ANC councillor Loyiso Nkohla and expelled ANC councillor Andile Lili today (Wednesday) are pure vandalism and thuggery,” Democratic Alliance Western Cape leader Ivan Meyer said in a statement.

“The DA condemns this in the strongest terms.”

Earlier on Wednesday, African National Congress Youth League Western Cape spokesman Muhammad Khalid Sayed said in a statement that there was no justification for the criminal activity in the CBD.

“Those responsible should be held accountable for their actions,” he said.

“No amount of frustration can be used as an excuse to harbour and protect thieves and looters.”

It was sad that the legitimate plight of people demanding quality service delivery and access to land was vulgarised by thugs hiding among people with legitimate concerns.

Some protesters looted shops and vendors, and damaged property during a protest in the CBD, said Captain Frederick van Wyk.

He said it appeared around 3500 people took part in the protest. No arrests had been made.

According to a newspaper report, Meyer said Nkohla had urged residents in a number of informal settlements to loot the CBD and start erecting illegal structures in and around the city.

“He was quoted saying: ‘You will not have to go hungry because there are so many places that you can loot in the CBD. The police can’t arrest us all because there will be too many of us’ at a public meeting held in Nyanga over the weekend,” he said.

The DA would lay a charge of incitement to commit a crime against Nkohla in light of the inflammatory statements he had made and the violence and looting in the CBD.

He said that, given the Constitutional Court ruling that the organisers of a march or gathering could be held liable for damage caused, the organisers of Wednesday’s march should also be held responsible for the damage caused.

“Today’s protest march to the 1/8provincial 3/8 legislature in itself was purely political grandstanding,” said Meyer.

“The leaders of the march claim it was in reaction to not receiving satisfactory response from the department of human settlement to earlier grievances.”

Rather, human settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela at the time had requested that more information be provided regarding their concerns so that the department could investigate and report back to them.

“Although the group undertook to submit a revised memorandum, they never did so,” Meyer said.

“What happened during the protest march, namely the looting of shops and informal vendors in the city centre, was shocking.”

It was proof that the marchers’ actions were all part of the ANC’s ongoing ungovernability campaign in the Western Cape.

The ANC in the Western Cape was not available for comment.

Sapa