EFF Members at Clicks stores in the Durban CBD during the national shutdown of all Clicks outlets.
Gallo Images/Darren Stewart
- The EFF in the Eastern Cape announced it would take action against a regional leader for threatening to burn down a hospital.
- Nelson Mandela Bay regional secretary Hector Peter was caught on tape threatening to burn down Netcare Cuyler Hospital if a Clicks dispensary didn’t close.
- He allegedly told local media he was simply following orders from Julius Malema.
An EFF leader in the Eastern Cape, caught on tape threatening to burn down a private hospital housing a Clicks pharmacy, and later justifying the threat to local media as him simply following orders from Julius Malema, is in hot water with the party.
The party’s provincial leadership said it would take “appropriate” action against Nelson Mandela Bay EFF regional secretary Hector Peter over comments inciting violence.
Peter, however, told News24 he meant what he said as just an empty threat.
The threat came during a stand-off between EFF members, led by Peter, and the management of Netcare Cuyler Hospital in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape EFF chairman Yazini Tetyana confirmed.
READ | Unilever to pull all TRESemmé products for 10 days after meeting with EFF
Tetyana said while the party’s aim was to see all Clicks stores countrywide shut down, it did not encourage violence.
He said he had asked Peter to give his side of the story and that appropriate action would follow.
Tetyana said: “We were closing all Clicks stores in the country including in Uitenhage, hence EFF members were there. Our intention was to make sure all the stores are closed without any violence of sort or intimidation.
“In a political space, at time, people tend to be too emotional without meaning some of the things they say. We have asked the regional secretary if indeed this happened. It’s not how EFF operates, we will have further engagement with the member concerned.”
Tetyana said the party successfully closed the Clicks pharmacy following the incident.
‘Following Malema’s directives’
According to HeraldLive, in two video clips doing the rounds on social media, Peter was heard clearly telling the staff that if the EFF’s demands were not met, the hospital would be burnt down.
The newspaper said when asked about the video clips later, Peter readily admitted the threat, but said he was justified in doing so as EFF president Julius Malema had called for the closure of all Clicks stores.
MUST WATCH | Shopper pulls a gun on protesting EFF members
He said the group was simply following Malema’s directive, said the newspaper.
Peter said they had not come to shut down the hospital, but the Clicks store on site.
The hospital dispensary was in the same room from which Clicks operated.
In a statement, general manager of pharmacy at Netcare, Vishala Gokool-Sewram, said: “Whilst the Clicks retail ‘front shops’ at Netcare hospitals and the Clicks pharmacies at Medicross centres are closed currently, the Netcare-owned institutional hospital pharmacies are, however, continuing to supply medicines and equipment to theatres, as well as ICU and ward patients.
“We have been in discussions with the senior management of Clicks earlier this week and received their assurance that they would be taking the necessary action to rectify this situation.”
Called for comment, Peter said: “What I said there was just a political statement, the EFF is a progressive organisation with a commitment to South Africans. We were never going to burn South Africans alive.”
Asked if he meant that he made an empty threat, Peter said: “That is correct.”
