ANC says DA councillor should be held accountable

By Rhodé Marshall
21 February 2008

The African National Congress (ANC) says Democratic Alliance councillor Frank Martin should be held accountable for the Delft Symphony homes that was illegally occupied since December last year by over a thousand families.

The alleged enticement of Martin for people to occupy the unfinished houses has led to a political row where the liability of the Delft councillor is continuously questioned by the ANC.

It is alleged Martin told those who are on the waiting list to occupy the houses before black people are given permission to move into the homes.

“As far as we are concerned Frank Martin led a group of people to illegally occupy houses and he did so on the basis of hate speech and racists statements that houses are given to only Africans,” says ANC spokesperson Garth Strachan.

Strachan says the ANC has sympathy for homeless people but that they (the homeless) should be careful not to be used by people such as Councillor Martin who needs to be taken to court.

“When the judge ruled that the occupations were illegal, he said that the rule of law needs to be upheld and if its not upheld there would be anarchy in this country,” explains Strachan.

When Fank Martin was asked to respond to the statements that have been made by the ANC, he said: “Tell them Frank Martin is not interested in their slander.”