Cope lays charges against ANCYL leader

ANCYL president Collen Maine. File picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/Independent Media

ANCYL president Collen Maine. File picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/Independent Media

Published Feb 11, 2016

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Rustenburg – The Congress of the People (Cope) has laid a criminal charge against African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Collen Maine for inciting violence, the party said on Thursday.

Cope spokesman Dennis Bloem said the charge was opened at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria on Wednesday.

“We charged him for unlawfully inciting violence in breach of the constitution. He made the following incendiary remarks: ‘Those who seek to disrupt the State of the Nation must prepare themselves for a civil war… The youth league will physically remove woodworkers from parliament…”

He said as the youth leader of the largest political formation in South Africa, Collen Maine’s incendiary remarks threatening a “civil war” have to be taken very seriously.

“There is increasing volatility in South Africa and the role of political leaders is to act constructively and to lead the nation forward. War talk will plunge the country into utter chaos,” he said.

“South Africa has had enough of people wanting to kill for Zuma to feed at the trough, but no intense desire from the same people to rescue the economy so as to ameliorate the economic plight of the people. Opportunistic leaders such as Maine care only about their own progress on the political ladder and nothing else.”

Maine reportedly made the comments at a rally in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, on Sunday. He warned opposition parties against fighting with President Jacob Zuma.

African News Agency

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