Note to Editors: Attached please find the English soundbite from Francois Rodgers MPL, the DA KZN Leader
The Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal is shocked and saddened by the attack and destruction of its DA branded sound vehicle. See here .
This took place last night outside Richmond, where armed gunmen held staff members hostage and hijacked the vehicle. They proceeded with the vehicle and staff members under hostage into a deserted area where they further threaten to burn the vehicle and the members of the DA staff, who were forced to lie face down on the ground.
This incident was extremely traumatic for the DA staff members involved.
The incident comes a week after the attack of another staff member in Durban. These criminals then proceeded to loot the vehicle and set it alight. Thankfully they allowed the staff members to flee the scene with no injury or loss of life.
The DA condemns in the strongest terms this type of barbaric behaviour and questions those involved and their motives behind the incident. A case with SAPS has been opened and we call on the law enforcement agency to immediately proceed with an investigation and bring those perpetrators to book.
It cannot be that in a democratic society during a time of elections that any political party becomes the target of attack. The province of KwaZulu-Natal has a poor history of political intolerance, the DA calls on all political role players to ensure that the election on the 1st of November is free and fair without any intimidation.