A newly launched Nelson Mandela Bay political party, the Northern Alliance (NA), may have successfully registered with the IEC and be ready to contest the local elections, but there are already cracks as one of the members has accused the party of flouting Covid-19 regulations at its gatherings.
Japie Jansen, one of the NA founding members, said party members had held several gatherings to establish branches, and he was concerned because such events were prohibited.
“We cannot have superspreader events in Port Elizabeth,” he said.
“It is dangerous and I am concerned about protecting our communities and stopping the spread of Covid.”
On December 29, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced SA would move from level one to an adjusted level three lockdown as a measure to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Under these regulations all indoor and outdoor gatherings, including political and religious gatherings, were prohibited for 14 days, except for funerals and other limited exceptions such as restaurants, museums, gyms and casinos.
After Ramaphosa’s address on Monday, it was announced that the regulations and the prohibitions remained.
Jansen said he had attended one of meetings held in a church in Despatch on January 4 and alerted the police.
“I actually just attended to warn them and to plead with them to disperse and postpone the meeting but they ignored my warnings and I called the police.
“The police dispersed them, but then they just went on being reckless and went to meet at a house and continued with the establishment of that branch,” he said.
NA president Gary van Niekerk denied they had contravened the regulations.
He said theirs were not gatherings, and to hold a meeting was one of their core duties as an organisation.
“These were not political gatherings like the January 8 celebrations which are normally attended by thousands of people,” he said.
“We are always a small number at these meetings, no more than 16 people, and all these were cleared with the authorities and the intention of the regulations is to stop superspreader events where large numbers gather.
“Our meeting observed all protocols and was not a superspreader event,” Van Niekerk said.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu confirmed a case had been opened on January 7 in terms of the regulations under the Disaster Management Act — attending an illegal political gathering.
“The incident took place on January 4; howeve,r the case was opened only on January 7 by one of the attendees.
“The case will be forwarded to the senior public prosecutor for a decision,” Naidu said.
Van Niekerk said NA had been registered with the IEC in August 2020.
It has set itself the ambitious target of winning 20 seats in the Bay council when residents go to the polls later in 2021.
The party already has four branches and will be establishing 12 more over the course of the week, with the regional conference set to take place on January 30.
NA national chair Bevan Brown said the party had been formed to fight for northern areas residents.
“Our voting co-ordinators get the names of the people the community wants as the leader of their branch and then we get those people together and they elect a branch structure.
“When we meet as a collective, only those elected branch leaders attend not everyone because we are in Covid, and all the time we sanitise, wear masks and sanitise,” Brown said.
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