Former KwaZulu-Natal African National Congress (ANC) Provincial Secretary Bheki Mtolo has defended the party’s protest march held in Kokstad on Wednesday, saying it was aimed at raising awareness of pressing community issues and holding government accountable.
The ANC marched through Kokstad before handing over a memorandum of grievances to the South African Police Service and the Mayor of the Greater Kokstad Municipality.
The petition highlighted several concerns affecting local communities, including missing children, gender-based violence, drug trafficking and substance abuse, as well as the municipality’s poor performance and governance challenges.
The march sparked mixed reactions on social media. While some users supported the initiative, many questioned why the ANC was protesting when it governs at national, provincial and local levels. Critics argued that the party appeared to be protesting against its own government.
Mtolo, who participated in the march, was asked whether it made sense for the ANC to stage a protest despite being the governing party with the authority to address the very issues that they were raising.
In response, Mtolo rejected the criticism, insisting that the ANC had done nothing wrong.
“Protests are a key pillar of social mobilisation that empowers people to become their own liberators,” he said. “It is not just a march; it is a process of raising awareness within communities about important issues, including the need to end gender-based violence, which has become a pandemic in our society.”
Mtolo also stressed the importance of distinguishing between the ANC as a political party and the government.
“There is the ANC as a political party that contests elections, and there is a liberation movement that remains among the people,” he said. “The movement must continuously raise issues affecting communities and hold the government accountable.”
He maintained that community mobilisation and advocacy remain central to the ANC’s role, regardless of whether the party is in government.
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