The Central Equatoria State Chamber of Commerce, a mercantile union, on Tuesday said it is ready to sue the caretaker mayor of Juba City Council (JCC) for assaulting a street vendor.
In a video that went viral on social media on Sunday, Acting JCC Mayor Emmanuel Khamis, who is also the appointed commissioner of Lainya County, is seen brandishing a pistol in his right hand and physically assaulting a female vendor selling mosquito nets with his left hand at a junction west Juba known as the Seventh-day Adventist roundabout.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday in Juba, Robert Pitia, the chairperson of the Central Equatoria State Chamber of Commerce, said the entity will take up the case if the victim wants to take legal action against the acting mayor.
“We can open a case against the mayor directly. This is one option but it also needs the person who was slapped,” he said. “If that person is around and needs legal assistance, we will open a case against the mayor because he is a human being like anyone.”
According to Pitia, vendors are humans struggling to survive and should be treated with respect and dignity.
“He (mayor) has just been given a position to manage, he is not above the law. If that person (victim) comes to the Chamber of Commerce and wants us to go further, we can frame charges against the acting mayor because we do not want these things (violence) to happen to anyone,” he said.
When contacted for comment by Radio Tamazuj, Acting Mayor Khamis, cavalierly retorted: “I do not respond to issues on social media.”