Shots fired at Inanda venue as EFF and Mchunu events land on the same Saturday

A music event and a political manifesto launch are booked for the same Saturday in Inanda, north of Durban, and the two camps met each other a day early. Shots were fired, police moved in, and by Friday evening both sides were at a police station laying complaints.

Festival organiser Ngizwe Mchunu says a member of his security team fired an AK-47 into the air after spotting firearms among a group of Economic Freedom Fighters supporters, SABC News reported. The EFF says Mchunu staged his event close to its rally to provoke the party, and its provincial leadership has opened a case against him, his security and his supporters.

What each side says happened

Mchunu said he was inspecting the venue for Saturday’s music event when his guards were approached by a group of EFF supporters. His account is that the group drew firearms and fired, and that one of his guards returned fire with the rifle.

“My security guards were watching the group, not knowing whether they were excited to see me or not,” he said. “But when they saw them taking out firearms and firing shots, the guys who were with me then responded.”

He said he will open a case of his own.

EFF provincial leader Mongezi Twala gave a different account from outside the police station. He said the party’s members had been assaulted by Mchunu and his security, and that Mchunu had removed EFF posters from the area.

“We are here at the police station to open a case against Ngizwe, his security and his thugs,” Twala said. He added that the party is also concerned about how police handled the incident.

The law, and who may enforce it

Discharging a firearm in a public place, assault and intimidation are criminal offences, and the cases now sit with the South African Police Service, which is the only body with the authority to investigate them. Political parties do not police each other, and no crowd carries any standing to enforce anything against another.

The confrontation is the latest turn in a long-running dispute between EFF leader Julius Malema and Mchunu that has already been to court. Saturday puts both men’s supporters within walking distance of each other in the same township.

What happens next

The EFF says its KwaZulu-Natal manifesto launch will proceed on Saturday regardless of Friday’s events. Twala was direct about it.

“We are going to stage our programme tomorrow,” he said. “There’s no Ngizwe that is going to stop us from having any political programme. We are campaigning now.”

Mchunu’s music event is also still on the calendar. That leaves the police with two crowds, one township, and a single day to keep them apart, and it leaves residents of Inanda in the middle of a fight between two camps that neither of them lives in.

Source: SABC News (website), Ngizwe Mchunu says security fired AK-47 after EFF confrontation