Johannesburg, Sunday
POLICE arrested more than a hundred members of a crowd from the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC) who gathered on Saturday to protest outside the Kensington home of Johannesburg Metropolitan Mayor Amos Masondo.
Masondo’s representative Khotso Chikane said a bus load of protesters arrived at Masondo’s home in Kensington on Saturday morning and began singing and chanting.
”They then began trashing the place, people were throwing rubbish around the garden, banging on the doors and they damaged the garage door,” he said.
Although Masondo was not at home during the incident, his wife and children were locked inside.
Chikane said they were very frightened and the Masondo’s security guard let off a few gun shots to try and disperse the crowd.
Police arrived at the scene shortly thereafter and arrested the marchers on charges of disrupting the peace and organising an illegal march.
Chikane said Masondo had met with members of the SECC last Thursday to discuss some of their grievances, but they still went ahead with the march.
Chikane said: ”Mr Masondo was in Honolulu discussing the plans for the World Sustainable Development Summit at the time of the incident.
”We have repeatedly informed these people that the Mayor has nothing to do with outstanding electricity bills and they must deal directly with Eskom.”
SECC Chairperson, Trevor Ngwane said that the crowd had become angry when Masondo’s bodyguard began to fire bullets from a position on top of the roof of the house.
While Ngwane maintained that one person was injured, the police could not confirm whether there were injuries. Meanwhile the Sunday Times reported that at least three people were injured including two demonstrators nicked by gunshots fired by Masondo’s bodyguard, who was injured himself when he was pelted by salvos of rocks.
”We became fearful and angry and then people began to throw rubbish around the garden and damage the garage doors.”
Ngwane who spoke to Sapa from a cellphone in the Jeppe police cells said more than a hundred of the marchers had been arrested at the instigation of African National Congress officials who urged the police to lock them up to teach them a lesson.
”Initially they were only going to charge me as I was prepared to take the blame for the damage to property, but instead they arrested us all. We have elderly grannies and youths here in the cell.”
Ngwane said that on previous occasions they had been refused permission to a peaceful protest. He claimed that the Government was involved with the electrical crisis in Soweto because free water and electricity had been on their election manifesto.
One youth in the crowd was slightly injured by one of the bodyguards’ bullets and had been taken for medical treatment. – Sapa