Home hit with 4 petrol bombs, but DA’s Koesister Queen won’t back down | News24

- DA ward candidate Yola Minnaar survived two petrol-bomb attacks on her home and a safehouse within 30 minutes of each other on Sunday night.

- The DA’s mayoral hopeful Helen Zille called the incidents “intimidation of the worst kind”.

- The bombs narrowly missed rooms where children were sleeping, but Minnaar says she won’t be scared off the ballot.

“Intimidation of the worst kind” is how DA mayoral hopeful Helen Zille described the petrol bombing of the home, and then the safe house, of a Johannesburg DA ward candidate.

Yola Minnaar, who is contesting Ward 58, had her Jan Hofmeyr home hit with four bombs on Sunday night; half an hour later, her safe house at another location was attacked with five more explosives.

Zille visited her at the safe house on Monday.

“This shows that it’s personal and it’s targeted, and coming just before the election. Ward 58 is currently an ANC ward, which Auntie Yola is going to win. We are very confident in that. She’s going to win that war for the DA,” Zille said.

Ward 58 includes Albertville, Auckland Park, Brixton, Coronationville, Emmarentia, Fordsburg, Jan Hofmeyr, Mayfair, Melville, Newtown, Parktown, Riverlea, and Westbury.

The ward is in Region F, covering parts of the inner city and the West Rand area. It is a historic, densely populated, and culturally diverse area. Besides the ANC and DA, the PA is also contesting the ward and is looking to take the so-called “coloured votes”.

With the contest hotting up, Minnaar chose to stay away from her home at an undisclosed location because she had felt increasingly intimidated as 4 November drew near. She is a well-known member of the community, and everyone knows where she lives.

She told News24 off-the-record details of several serious incidents of intimidation, but she counts the bombs as the worst.

She said there was an incident during a water protest on Saturday, which ended in clashes between residents aligned with the DA, who wore blue T-shirts, and other protesters. While Minnaar said she had been invited to participate as the DA, she did not attend the protest.

Dubbed the Koeksister Queen, Minnaar’s baked goods and sweet treats are famous, but more importantly, the sale of her desserts helps her feed around 1 000 hungry people from her neighbourhood and surroundings a day.

Zille said:

She added that the bombs were used as intimidation.

“They know she’s got a family. They’re showing here now that they know where her family lives. It’s intimidation of the worst kind,” she said.

She added that Minnaar had a “very, very thick skin, so when it’s just words, I think she can deal with it, but last night was absolutely unacceptable”.

The councillor hopeful sat in the lounge of the safe house when she spoke to News24. She said that while she now felt unsafe, it wouldn’t stop her from contesting the election.

She also believes that it was an act of intimidation rather than a foiled assassination because she sits in her yard every day, where she is accessible to anyone who may want to harm her.

“If they really wanted to get me, I was right there,” she told News24.

She rubbed her knees in a self-soothing manner as she explained what had happened to her and her family.

On Sunday night, Minnaar decided that she and her two children should stay the night at the safehouse. So the three headed off to the location at around 20:00.

Fifteen minutes later, a small group of men allegedly threw petrol bombs into the home in Jan Hofmeyr. The explosives were made using a glass soft drink bottle filled with petrol and lit by a wick made of rag. The rags at both locations were made of the same cloth, and police allegedly said this led them to believe the same people were responsible.

Two of the explosives hit a bedroom window, bouncing off the burglar guards. There were two adults and two children sleeping in the room at the time.

A third bomb landed on the roof, causing a small fire, and a fourth exploded on the pavement. Luckily, nobody was harmed, and the fire on the roof was quickly extinguished.

Community activist Arushaad Adriaanse noted that the window was close to the boundary, so it was strange that they had missed getting a bomb through the window.

At the safehouse, Minnaar was on a call about the incident when a bomb went through the window of a bedroom. Two adults and two children were in the room at the time, but there was no explosion. The other bombs fell short of the home, which was quite a distance from the boundary wall.

Nobody was hurt, but the family is shaken. News24 understands that CCTV cameras captured footage of the incident. Three vehicles were also noted: a black Polo, a white Golf, and a white Toyota bakkie. Minnaar recognised the bakkie, which she said had passed her home several times over the last couple of days.

Police have also been given number plate details for a vehicle they believe may have been involved in the attack.

After her visit on Monday, Zille and members of the DA, along with some members of Minnaar’s family, went to the Florida police station to ensure the police were investigating the case.

The station commander, Colonel Frans Marweshe, promised the entourage that they would take the case seriously. He promised to patrol the area to ensure it doesn’t happen again. He was also given additional leads to help solve the case.

Kate Bapela, national spokesperson for the Electoral Commission of South Africa, said this was a matter for the police.

“Obviously, the parties know the code of conduct, what needs to be done.

“We’re not even sure if there are political parties involved there, but a member of the DA has been attacked. We feel that it’s purely a law enforcement matter, and we hope that the DA has taken the matter up with law enforcement,” she said.

On a lighter note, Minnaar said she was getting angry phone calls from furious customers who are concerned a political career will come between them and their precious koeksisters.