Helen Zille has accused the police of being useless ,while protesters throwing poo blocked the N2 near Cape Town International Airport. Zille blames Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and national commissioner General Riah Phiyega, saying that they are poor leaders. In a statement she wrote on Monday she described the scene:

Some of the police ‘non-response’ scenes belong in a Monty Python movie

Zille asked in her letter, “where in any democracy could a handful of protesters close down a major highway, day after day without facing arrest?” She said that  Mthethwa and Phiyega were completely ignorant with their policing mandate.

Zweli Mnisi, Mthethwa’s spokesman accused Zille of being selective with her facts, and said that her open letters are becoming boring. (What a come back!) He noted the Western Cape doesn’t need politicking, it needs exemplary leadership.

Zille said:

Both (Mthethwa and Phiyega) argued that if violent protesters had genuine grievances, there was no point arresting them because they would simply return the next day.

She then poses a great question, asking “What hope is there for our young democracy when the very people responsible for defending the rule of law resort to such arguments?”

She adds that the arrests of protesters hurling faeces have been sparse and carries out by the special Public Order Policing. All this while the South African Police Services are on the scene, just observing as everything unfolds.

Zille also accused ANCYL members of backing and coordinating the poo protests, which the ANCYL has obviously denied.

[Source: IOL]