Mbombela – An Mpumalanga councillor has been arrested in connection with a clash between members of the ANC and the SACP that left 10 people hospitalised, police said on Monday.

Kanyamazane police spokesperson Andries Shikwambane told a Sapa correspondent that a member of Mbombela local municipality’s mayoral committee was arrested at his home on Monday.

“I can confirm that two people have been arrested for the violence that took place at Kanyamazane on 25 January. The two have been charged with malicious damage to property,” said Shikwambane.

By 16:30 on Monday, the councillor had not yet appeared in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court because police and prosecutors were still waiting for his co-accused to arrive from Barberton, where he was arrested on Monday.

The incident, which made headlines, took place when people wearing ANC T-shirts violently disrupted a memorial lecture where former ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa and SACP provincial secretary Bonakele Majuba were expected to speak in Kanyamazane on 25 January.

The SACP memorial lecture about SACP stalwart Joe Slovo and slain former Mbombela municipal speaker Jimmy Mohlala had to be called off when the people clad in ANC T-shirts stormed the Kanyamazane community hall, assaulting SACP members and also vandalising the hall as well as cars belonging to SACP members.