Pro-Zuma Vs Anti-Zuma Battle It Out At Luthuli House

Secretary-general Ace Magashule was booed by sections of the ANC protestors and called a "sell-out" as he was receiving the memorandum.
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Pontsho Mabena

Tensions were high on Monday as protesters descended on Luthuli House in Johannesburg. It was a face-off between pro-Zuma and anti-Zuma protesters, having a go at each other in a conflict that got heated.

Magashule

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule was booed by sections of the ANC protestors and called a "sell-out" as he accepted the memorandum. The police then escorted and protected Magashule as he made his way back to Luthuli House.

BLF vs ANC

Prior to Magashule's arrival, the Black First Land First (BLF) movement and its allies squared off against the ANC supporters, and two fights on separate occasions made it appear that chaos could erupt.

BLF protestors were chased away by #ZumaMustGo supporters at around 11.30am, which seemingly restored some. But BLF returned to ruffle feathers anew.

A member of the BLF camp appeared to provoke anti-Zuma protesters, who then attacked him, but he managed to get away. It was reported that #ZumaMustGo protestors had attacked BLF members with bricks and knobkieries.

ANC factions

Thabang Setona, an ANC branch secretary, said the anti-Zuma camp is tired of "unity", and that they were there to "defend" Luthuli House.

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Pontsho Mabena

He claimed the headquarters were under attack by "the nyaope boys", and said his group was there to protect the leadership-elect of the ANC under Cyril Ramaphosa.

The protests coincide with growing pressure on the president to resign. Reports at the weekend said that the ANC leadership had met with Zuma to ask him to step down, but no official word had emerged by Monday morning on the outcome of those discussions. Unofficially, it has been leaked that Zuma is digging his heels in.