South African opposition leader Zille under fire after arrest

Sep 10, 2007, 10:38 GMT

Johannesburg - South African opposition leader Helen Zille has come under fire from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party following her arrest for participating in an allegedly illegal protest march against drugs on Sunday.

Zille, Cape Town mayor and national head of the Democratic Alliance, has alleged that her arrest with at least eight others had 'purely political' motives after her release. She and her co-accused are to appear in court on Tuesday.

But on Monday officials from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party hit back at Zille, criticizing her for not acting against suspected drug-lords and gangsters operating in the Western Cape Province where Cape Town is located.

Western Cape Minister for Community Safety Leonard Ramatlakane of the ANC was quoted as saying Zille had contravened the law while trying to gather public support.

He also lashed out at Zille for joining the protest action involving 'dangerous' anti-drug campaigners with a history of vigilantism.

Zille led the march to protest drug abuse and was passing out pamphlets in an anti-drug campaign in the sprawling Mitchells Plain township of about 1 million people on the outskirts of Cape Town.

During the march, a Muslim preacher was arrested, and Zille followed into a police station to inquire about the reason for his detention.

Inside the station, Zille was asked to tell the crowd outside to disperse. Then, while addressing the assembled group, she and others were themselves arrested.

The Western Cape, the only province where the ANC has never won an outright majority, is awash with drugs and related problems, with the hardest hit areas being the impoverished council-owned districts.