Joburg - The Black People’s National Crisis Committee “Queen is Dead”-themed party in Khayelitsha which was aimed at celebrating the death of Queen Elizabeth II took an unexpected turn after a sheep which was to be slaughtered to mark the occasion was seized by the SPCA and SAPS on Monday afternoon.
The committee had advertised the event with much enthusiasm and boldly said it would not be celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s death as she was a coloniser.
Millions around the world watched the funeral of the British Monarch and mourned her death, while her death was celebrated in some pockets around the world, including by the organisation BPNCC in Khayelitsha.
The organisation was not the only to revel in the Queen’s death, as abroad, some have chanted slogans such as “Lizzy’s in a box” during football matches.
A rather disappointed member of the committee, Mbulelo Dwane, described the confiscation of the sheep as a “crisis”.
He said the sheep was seized when they failed to produce proof of purchase when they were stopped by officers on their way to the Queen Is Dead Party.
“We have a crisis, this afternoon after buying the sheep, on our way here the sheep was apprehended by law-enforcement together with the SPCA because we had no proof of payment.”
This happened as celebrations were well under way and people had arrived at the venue in Khayelitsha for the feast and festivities.
“We are trying to deal with the matter but SPCA refuses to release the sheep though there is proof of payment, there is a receipt.”
“We are not shocked because they have done this to us before,” he said.
The group which describes Queen Elizabeth as a coloniser said there was nothing to mourn after her death and proclaimed it would be holding celebrations for its freedom and escaping colonisation.
They had planned to slaughter a sheep, eat meat and celebrate on Monday – the day of the queen’s funeral.
“There are unbranded police vehicles here so you can tell that they were ready for us but we don’t know why they are minding us because there is too much crime in Khayelitsha for them to be minding us,” said Dwane.
The committee and its members and supporters are optimistic that regardless of this obstacle they will still celebrate and slaughter (a sheep) as they had planned.
“We will still get our sheep, we will still slaughter in the name of Elizabeth, it is just that now they have sort of thrown us off course temporarily, but we are not shocked,” said Dwane.
Earlier, before the SAPS and SPCA threw a spanner in the works for the occasion, an excited Songezo Mazizi, who is the spokesperson for the committee, had exclaimed: “We are happy and we are celebrating by slaughtering sheep and eating meat here in Khayelitsha.
“We are hosting this party on the same day as her funeral deliberately because we want to send a message and acknowledge that her passing means that we are free and have escaped the colonisation by the British people.
“We cannot mourn for thieves and murderers, and if anything we are happy and the slaughtering symbolises that.”
The group had also said that it did not support President Cyril Ramaphosa attending the funeral.
IOL