'ANC plotting with Gang Bosses in Western Cape'

(excerpts from IOL News)

COMMUNITY Safety MEC Dan Plato has accused the ANC of conspiring with gang bosses, and even going so far as to bring in criminals from other provinces, to destabilise the Western Cape.

Plato made these allegations during his budget speech in the provincial legislature on Friday night.

ANC politicians immediately jumped in to vehemently deny his claims during the debate, in turn accusing the MEC of being in bed with underworld figures.

The raucous budget debate saw MEC Robin Carlisle claim that the ANC top brass who had met with crime bosses included President Jacob Zuma and the ANC’s Western Cape leader Marius Fransman.

During his speech, Plato told the house: “The ANC is not looking to stop the violence and bloodshed, and they do not care about the safety of the people. What they do care about is power.”

Plato said he had received “reliable information” that senior ANC leaders met numerous top gang bosses in the Western Cape.

“The violence we currently experience in the Western Cape is nothing other than politically motivated. People attending these meetings reported that one of the topics discussed is how to make the Western Cape ungovernable with the assistance of the gangsters,” he said.

Plato made notes on Franciscus’s claims during a series of meetings with the controversial businessman.

In the dossier, Franciscus – who died in a car accident in November – is recorded as claiming the ANC in the Western Cape was bent on making the province “ungovernable” by the ruling DA.

The Franciscus dossier also mentions an underworld figure from Durban (whose name is known to Weekend Argus), a man with close links to both the ANC and the Americans gang in Cape Town, who allegedly played a facilitating role in linking up the gangsters with politicians in a series of meetings – the first of which reportedly took place on May 2 last year.

Plato’s claims about an ANC conspiracy follow hot on the heels of similar allegations made by DA provincial leader Theuns Botha, who blamed the ANC as the instigator in a spate of service-delivery protests in the Western Cape.

According to the DA, the ANC task team instrumental in mobilising protest action in small rural towns includes Fransman, ANC provincial treasurer Fezile Calana, and Duncan Korabie, an ANC-affiliated advocate.

Botha claimed recent protests in Grabouw and Villiersdorp were planned months in advance by an ANC task team established with the objective of reclaiming power in Western Cape councils by any means necessary.

Meanwhile, five independent sources with close ties to Cape Flats gangs told Weekend Argus there have been meetings dating back to May last year between ANC politicians – allegedly including Zuma – and some gang bosses and evangelical pastors with underworld links. Two sources claimed a meeting occurred at Genadendal.

(full article can be viewed here)