De Doorns conflict defused

This morning Western Cape agriculture minister, Gerrit van Rensburg, the minister of Community Safety, Dan Plato and I visited De Doorns.

We had several meetings with amongst others local leaders, the police, other law enforcement officers as well as agriculture representatives.

The DA-led government took action on the ground to stabilise the situation and the Mayor of the Breedevalley Municipality, mr Basil Kivedo, addressed the protestors this afternoon. Through intense mediatory discussions with all the stakeholders, we managed to defuse today's conflict. Our swift reaction and leadership proved that it is possible to find solutions through dialogue.

It is very clear to me that much of the protest in this area is politically motivated and the local ANC is once again played a large role in inciting the violence and vandalism. A volatile situation such as this one should under no circumstances be exploited for cheap political gain. The DA condemns such behaviour in the strongest sense.

The DA-led Western Cape government is committed to maintaining law and order and I would like to thank my colleagues as well as the police and other law enforcement  officers for their efforts today.

Statement by Ivan Meyer, Leader of the DA in the Western Cape, November 6 2012

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