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EFF student gives Mandela a stinking present

While politicians across the country were painting clinics and giving to the poor, president of the EFF Student Command Peter Keetse chose to take rats - some dead, some alive - and place them at the feet of Nelson Mandela's statue in Sandton, a stone's throw away from Alexandra township.

Keetse explained his reasons for doing so: "We have long diagnosed issues of the people of Alexandra. There was an incident where a child was eaten by rats. The story was there but nothing was done for the people of Alexandra and their conditions.

"They [Alexandra residents] have said here is a man who is celebrated internationally, and when you check just next door [in the township] the situation is worse than it was back in 1994.

"It is deteriorating each and every day. Nothing is being done with that condition ... they [people of Alexandra] just come and trim trees and flowers in Sandton and go back to share their groceries with rats.

"We have said as Alex we are going to take this initiative and go to Mandela Square. and deliver a present to the old man. Conditions are still the same. Nothing has changed ..."

Keetse said that a group of young people helped capture 30 live rats and took them to the statue where they also held a demonstration.

Efforts to get comment from the EFF proved fruitless last night.

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