Moloko Moloto
Boy Mamabolo points at the broken window of his house in Seshego, before he was arrested for allegedly damaging ANCYL Limpopo secretary Jacob Lebogos car. Pictures: Moloko Moloto
Johannesburg – A luxury car and a home were vandalised and police were called on Wednesday evening to intervene in a fight involving President Jacob Zuma’s and Julius Malema’s supporters.
Weeks after the warring factions threw stones and missiles at each other during Malema’s aborted rally in the Sekhukhune region of Limpopo, they were at each other’s throats again.
The latest brawl, between a group led by Malema’s arch-rival, Boy Mamabolo, and their rivals, led by ANCYL Limpopo secretary Jacob Lebogo, pelted each other with stones in Seshego outside Polokwane.
This took place a few hours after Malema had cast his vote during a ward 13 by-election at Mponegele Primary School.
Clashes among ANC members appear to be on the rise as the party prepares for its national conference in Mangaung in December.
The fight took place at about 9pm as Lebogo and Jossie Buthane – another diehard Malema supporter – sat inside Lebogo’s car.
The two, and several other ANC members, had parked their vehicles near the school’s corner, waiting for the voting results to be announced.
Mamabolo had thrown the stones at Lebogo’s car without provocation, according to Lebogo and Buthane. This was confirmed by Marble Kalembo, another Malema supporter at the scene.
Mamabolo had walked out of his house, which is about 500m away from where Lebogo and his friends had parked their cars. His actions sparked a chase and retaliation by Lebogo’s group, who allegedly threw stones at Mamabolo’s house. The house’s asbestos roof was partially broken, as were some windows.
Shortly before his arrest at midnight, Mamabolo confirmed to The Star that he had bashed Lebogo’s car with stones.
He said Lebogo and his group had “provoked and irritated” him by parking their cars in his neighbourhood.
“What were they still doing here? They must go if they had finished voting,” said Mamabolo.
Lebogo’s car was chipped on the rear door on the right and on the driver’s door handle.
Earlier in the day, Mamabolo had led a group of young men who provoked Malema at the voting station.
They had sought to embarrass and assault him if the expelled youth leader had refused to wait his turn in the queue like everybody else.
But Malema avoided the confrontation by allowing Mamabolo and his seven friends to vote first.
After his car was damaged, Lebogo opened a case of malicious damage to property on the same day.
Mamabolo was arrested on the same night and three more charges were added against him at the local police station.
Seshego police spokesman Warrant Officer Mothemane Malefo said the additional charges were common assault, crimen injuria and resisting arrest. Malefo said Mamabolo had assaulted the police who arrested him.
“F*** the police,” The Star heard Mamabolo screaming repeatedly at the police station.
Mamabolo is the face of the anti-Malema campaign in the province. A celebration he organised after Malema’s expulsion from the ANC ended in a riot, and a shootout ensued between Malema’s supporters and the police.
He also held a parallel ANCYL conference.
Police said Mamabolo’s mother had opened a case of malicious damage to her property, but no arrest had been made by yesterday, police told The Star.
The Star
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