News 24 reports that president Zuma issued a warning to the residents of Malamulele in Limpopo to put an end to their protest action in favour of forming a new municipality.
Zuma said: “”This is unacceptable. If we are pushed to a point we will have to take certain actions.” There is little doubt what Zuma means by “…certain actions…”
A president who allowed armed police officers to remove his opposition from the National Assembly would obviously not hesitate to use them against ordinary citizens. Zuma tasted blood on Thursday…
The Municipal Demarcation Board announced in January that Malamulele did not qualify for its own municipality. Protests erupted in the area last year before the May general elections, and re-ignited a month ago with residents demanding their own municipality.
Residents claim the Thulamela municipality has been channelling services to Tshivenda-speaking areas, rather than their own, which is dominated by Xitsonga speakers. What has been happening here is obviously an oppression of the needs of a minority group.
We would like to remind president Zuma and his government of what the constitution says about this: National Legislation of Article 235 of the South African Constitution reads as follows : “The right of the South African people as a whole to self-determination, as manifested in this Constitution, does not preclude, within the framework of this right, recognition of the notion of the right of self-determination of any community sharing a common cultural and language heritage, within a territorial entity in the Republic or in any other way, determined by national legislation.”
This is the exact same legislation we want to invoke to demand self-determination.
Front National does not approve of the burning of schools and disruption of the community’s welfare which has been happening in Malamulele for 5 weeks now, but we fully support the right of the Xitshonga-people to have their own local government addressing their unique needs.
That is what we want for every group of people in this country, including ourselves.
By Daniel Lötter – Department Information
Front Nasionaal Suid Afrika
South Africa Today – South Africa News
