Police told to worry about ANC Youth League birthday rather than gang war
Police were allegedly ordered to withdraw from Manenberg in the Western Cape to ‘sit in the shade’ at the league’s celebrations in Nyanga
Police members of an anti-gang unit were allegedly told to withdraw from Manenberg in the midst of a gang war to "sit in the shade" at the ANC Youth League birthday celebrations.On Saturday the Cape Flats suburb awoke to find bodies lying in the streets.Violence escalated again on Sunday afternoon but police were ordered to withdraw from the area to help prevent two league factions from fighting at an event in Nyanga‚ where ANC presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was speaking."We were told at about 3pm to go and we sat there for about 20 minutes. We were monitoring the radios the whole time. We were literally standing on a corner in the shade while members [in Manenberg] were being over-run‚" said a source in Operation Combat‚ the anti-gang unit within the Western Cape police.He said they eventually responded to their colleagues’ cries for help in defiance of the order to attend the event.Manenberg community policing forum chairman Abdul Kader Jacobs said the unit had been d...
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