Durban - There has been an outcry after two men were recorded destroying a street pole in eManzimtoti, south of Durban.
The corner street sign bears the name of executed Andrew Zondo for Andrew Zondo Road and Emoyeni Drive.
An annoyed Andre Beetge, DA ward councillor, posted about the incident with a 29-second video on Facebook on the evening of Freedom Day.
In his post Beetge appealed to anyone who could recognise the two men to contact him so “we can institute criminal charges for destruction of municipal infrastructure.”
In the video, as the men struggle with the pole, people can be heard laughing in the background.
One of the men then bangs it against a street light pole before unearthing it.
When the pole is out of the ground, the second man stands on the pole and then the Andrew Zondo signage.
Then, a woman, with a foreign accent, who is in a vehicle calls out to him, referring to him as George, telling him to pick the sign up and they will “chuck it on the floor”.
George tries but fails.
There were more giggles and the video ended.
Beetge’s post has garnered more than 250 comments and has been shared more than 400 times.
Speaking to the Daily News on Thursday, Beetge said they had not yet had the identity of the men confirmed.
He said they suspected the incident took place on Tuesday evening because they received the information through a third party late Wednesday afternoon.
According to South African History Online, Andrew Zondo was instructed to retaliate against the apartheid forces after reading a report about the December 1985 massacre in Maseru where nine ANC cadres were murdered.
Zondo detonated a bomb in eManzimtoti which killed five people and injured 140 people on December 23, 1985, at the Sanlam shopping centre.
Six days later Zondo was arrested and charged.
On September 9, 1986, 19-year-old Zondo was hanged after being sentenced to death five times.
Facebook users were divided by the incident:
Gert Pretorius said: “They must serve time. Hope they get caught.”
Vasie Naidu said: “They need to be punished severely and dealt with accordingly.”
Elaine Currie: “What idiots, spending taxpayers money to fix this stuff. It should come out of their pockets.”
Sean De Gray Birch said there were ET Rapid Response security cameras in the area at key intersections, which would assist the councillor with his investigation in identifying cars at that time using that route.
Serena Diedricks Mckenzie said: “I am not condoning this vandalism, however in my opinion it is minor compared to the looting and burning of businesses etc. that has gone on all around us. Why were all those people not held responsible? Even burning roads is vandalism, and nothing is done to those so-called "protesters". I guess their motivation is remembering what Andrew Zondo did. Renaming Kingsway "Andrew Zondo Road" was a slap in the face of the people of Toti.”
Mlando Era said their fingerprints were all over the street pole.
Maureen Mostert: “No need to blame the municipality or what happened many years ago. These people should be held accountable for their vandalism actions, and if they want to blame it on alcohol, then they should be charged for driving under the influence as well. This is Barbaric!”
Daily News