Fri 15 October 2021:
On Thursday evening special task force stormed the St George’s Conference Centre in Irene, Pretoria, to rescue Defence Minister Thandi Modise, her deputy, Thabang Makwetla, and Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele.
After the group barred them from leaving a meeting to discuss their demands for government assistance, the elite unit stormed in, aided by military police and police.
56 people were arrested and three were injured, Brigadier Vish Naidoo, a police spokesperson, said.
“We got reports at approximately 19:15 this evening whereby we were informed of a possible hostage situation at a hotel in Centurion, Pretoria. We deployed our various disciplines of the SAPS and when attempts to negotiate with the hostage takers had failed, we successfully penetrated the room where these people were kept hostage and we rescued three hostages. Of the three hostages, two of them were cabinet ministers and one a deputy minister,” he said.
He said seven women were among the 56 arrested.
The ex-combatants are said to have demanded to see President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Deputy David Mabuza.
They also want the government to give them R4 million each for their contributions to South Africa’s liberation.
The group of roughly 30 people staged a sit-in at Luthuli House earlier this week and met with ministers on Thursday.
_____________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
