Tebogo Msimanga |
Former ANC Youth League Deputy President Andile Lungisa says on Monday 19 July 2021, he was summoned and interrogated by police intelligence and the Hawks from the ‘national office’ for his role in the supposed ‘coup’/ ‘insurrection’ attempt.
Lungisa said the current government has decided to recklessly characterize the protests that turned violent against the unjust arrest of President Jacob Zuma to have been an attempted coup. Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court.
“In the interrogation by the organs of the State, I was accused of having assembled an arsenal to overthrow the State. This is of course an outright lie.”
Lungisa added that not only is this allegation baseless, “I have never handled a weapon in my life. The next charge was that I broke Covid-19 regulations that are routinely broken by millions of people in the country and the offending parties are usually penalised with a fine if the police pursue them.”
He further said the last charge was that he opposed Former President Zuma’s arrest. On the last charge I am in good company with the minority judgement of the Constitutional Court. “I will of course continue to fight against this attempted intimidation and criminalization of political dissent. I will sue the State if they harm my reputation by painting me as a coup plotter.”
He concluded by saying it would have been interesting for the State to make the charge of ‘insurrection’ because “it would have given me an opportunity to cross examine the politicians that have caused all this anarchy.”
