A gun was drawn during a fight between ANC and IFP supporters in KwaZulu-Natal. Picture: Supplied
Estcourt - In yet another incident of political intolerance, a fist fight erupted between ANC and IFP supporters during a government event in Estcourt in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
The incident happened on Saturday and one man in the fighting group was seen pulling out his gun and later put it back into its holster.
It is said that the IFP supporters alleged that the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Bongi Sithole-Moloi, was using a government event to campaign for crucial by-elections that would determine who rules the Inkosi Langalibalele local municipality.
WATCH: A fist fight has erupted between ANC and IFP supporters at a government event held in Estcourt in the KZN Midlands. It is said that the IFP supporters alleged that CoGTA MEC was using a government event to campaign for crucial by-elections in the coming weeks. @IOL pic.twitter.com/BdIBJxYGQh
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) June 10, 2023
Sithole-Moloi was in the area to host an event dubbed “integrated service delivery programme” where she was to inspect water and electricity infrastructure.
The by-elections come after the IFP which runs the municipality fired three ward councillors it accused of allegedly taking bribes from the ANC to unseat its Mayor Mduduzi Myeza.
According to IOL sources on the ground, the skirmishes started when ANC supporters came to the event wearing their party regalia.
IFP supporters in the area heard that and took to the venue wearing their party regalia as well.
“The IFP supporters kept on telling the MEC to stop using government resources to campaign for her party.
“They told her that the agenda should not be about the ANC, but service delivery as the poster of the event said,” the source on the ground told IOL.
In one of the videos shared from the ground, ANC and IFP supporters are seen exchanging heated words.
In the heat of the moment, one of the men wearing an ANC T-shirt is seen slapping an IFP supporter who then retaliates.
That started a scuffle between the two groups and chairs were thrown at each other while the fist fight was going on.
A man wearing an orange T-shirt joined the fight on the side of the IFP, but he was violently pushed back by the ANC supporters.
Visibly irritated, he pulled his gun as if he was about to fire a shot and later moved it back to its holster on his right hip.
The department and the local municipality are yet to comment about the incident that is likely to add to an already tense political climate in the region where the ANC and the IFP are engaged in the fight to dethrone each other from local and district municipalities.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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