MK senior leader Visvin Reddy due in court on charges of inciting public violence

JOHANNESBURG - uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) senior leader, Visvin Reddy, is set to appear at the Chatsworth Magistrates Court on Wednesday on charges of inciting public violence. 

Reddy appears in the number nine position of MK’s national candidate list. 

Last month, Reddy made inflammatory remarks during an MK rally in KwaZulu-Natal, saying there would be anarchy and riots if the party was removed from the ballot. 

At the time of the comments, MK was facing a court challenge from the African National Congress (ANC) to have it deregistered as a political party. 

Reddy’s spokesperson, Sabeena Chetty, said his comments had been taken out of context. 

"That was taken out of context, the larger portion of the speech was that Ramaphosa was forgetting that having treated uBaba Zuma in such a bad manner that the public took to violence and riots and that sort of violence."

She said Reddy never meant to incite public violence. 

"In essence, all that Mr Reddy was trying to say is that the public itself are well behind MK and uBaba Zuma right now and having to deliberately take MK off the ballot sheet was obviously going to create some sort of chaos."