An ugly scene developed at Univen when a group of unruly people, who are believed to be members of the ANC, defied their leadership for calm and prevented COPE premier candidate for Limpopo Mr Sello Moloto from addressing the gathering.

This was during a debate session organized by the University of Venda to give all the participating political organizations in the forthcoming elections a chance to speak to the electorate and put their manifestos to the people.

It was also aimed at giving the electorate the chance to interact with leaders of the different political parties where they could ask all ques-tions, so that they could have the necessary knowledge before they cast their votes. Thirteen political parties were supposed to have debated under the topic: Leadership, Poverty Eradication and Rural Development.

The IEC was also roped in to explain to the electorate why it is important for one to vote. The ill-fated debate was held at the University’s main hall on Friday evening.

All hell broke loose when the time came for COPE’s Sello Moloto to address the gathering. Groups clad in Zuma T-shirts and waving anti Moloto placards, singing derogatory anti-Moloto songs successfully stopped him from addressing them. Matters nearly came to a head when one of the programme directors said he was giving Moloto only two minutes to address the gathering. Moloto’s supporters, who had come in their numbers, nearly charged at him, claiming he had been bought by the ANC to suppress their or-ganization.

The ANC leadership and IEC officials tried unsuccessfully to calm the gathering and Moloto was left with no option but to leave the stage through the back door with his bodyguards and a horde of supporters following him to a building where he held an impromptu press conference.

Moloto later told his followers that he was not surprised by all that happened. “We are not surprised at all. We expected them to behave in that manner as they have always done, they lack discipline,” he said. Moloto, who looked at ease, said the ANC “has been taken over by a bunch of hooligans who rule through anarchy, disrespect and violence,” which has resulted in many disciplined members leaving the organization.

He said there was a lot of intolerance in the organization and that democracy was lacking and ideas being forced on people without their having a say. “This form of institutionalized criminality has led to some of us having to part ways with the organization. If this is not changed as matter of urgency, the organization is heading towards the drain,” he said. He urged his followers to maintain strict discipline and respect for all. Moloto handed over COPE T-shirts to supporters before being whisked away by the police and his bodyguards.

A staunch member of the ANC said they would never afford Moloto the chance to address them after what she termed as betrayal on his part. “He will never address our people, he is a Judas who betrayed Jesus and we want nothing of him here,” she said.

Mr Takalani Dzaga, Univen’s director of communications, marketing and institutional advancement, said the university was concerned about the level of political intolerance shown by members of the different political parties. “We thought the debate would benefit all political parties as they would have the chance to put their manifestos and chance to ask questions people might have before going to the polls but they decided to disrupt it,” he said. “We distance ourselves from the unruly acts of those who are bent on seeing that democracy loses its meaning,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pansy Tlakula, the chief electoral officer at the IEC, has urged all political parties to be tolerant if there were to be free and fair elections in the country. She called on leaders of the different political parties to be tolerant of each other and to lead their supporters in an exemplary way.

In a press statement released earlier this week, Azapo expressed its concern about the incident and described the insults that were directed at leaders of other political parties by ANC members as “appalling and barbaric”.