Police arrested 31 people on Tuesday afternoon after a protest in the Petsana township near Reitz in the Free State.
Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said the people arrested faced charges of public violence, damage to state property, vandalism and being in possession of stolen goods.
”Police are patrolling the township. We will monitor the situation through the night,” he said.
Residents in Petsana blocked the access roads to the township in what seemed to be a protest against poor service delivery at 4am on Tuesday. The entrances to the township were blocked by burning tyres, huge cement pipes and stones.
Through the day police kept a presence at the entrance roads to the township. Later in the day they moved in with Nyala armoured vehicles to disperse the crowds at the town’s entrances.
The protest and stayaway of Petsana residents left Reitz almost a ghost town on Tuesday. Business owners compared the business of the day to that of a public holiday, with some business closing at 1pm on Tuesday.
Several businesses in Petsana, owned by foreigners, were looted. The mayor of the Nketoana municipality, Mandla Mamba, has expressed his regret at the situation.
”We think the situation could have been handled differently and better.”
He said the municipality would try its best to normalise the situation in town. The stayaway and protest were not necessarily linked to service delivery in the municipality, he said.
Mamba was on his way on Tuesday to discuss a list of grievances with the community and found the situation to be out of control.
Residents handed over a list of grievances to Mamba on May 4 and demanded reaction within five working days.
The list of issues includes items like ”IDP”, ”Accountability”, ”Projects” without giving an explanation. It also says ”incompetence of municipal manager”, referring to an official who had been at the municipality for only five months.
Mamba said the council had discussed the issues on Monday and were ready to give feedback to the community on Tuesday. However, he said no real service delivery issues had been raised in the memorandum.
”The demands did not have the character of service delivery,” said Mamba.
He said the protest leaders had intimidated residents during Monday night to stay away from work on Tuesday.
The council was expected to meet later this week to decide on a way forward.
”We would like to get our response to the grievances to the leaders and take the matters up at ward meetings,” said Mamba.
The Nketoana municipality consists of Reitz, Petrus Steyn, Lindley and Arlington.
The municipality has not had residents protesting over service-delivery problems, which crippled its neighbouring municipalities during 2004. — Sapa