Community members attacked their mayor over cholera deaths in the Greater Tubatse Municipality in Limpopo, police confirmed on Monday.
Superintendent Mohale Ramatseba said Mayor Ralepane Mamekoa was attending a funeral for alleged cholera victims when his car was hit with stones on Saturday.
Limpopo has lost nine people to cholera since November last year and a total of 2 439 people were being treated in various hospitals for the disease by Monday afternoon.
About 159 of these are new cases reported over the weekend, the provincial department of health spokesperson Phuti Seloba said.
Ramatseba said the mayor managed to escape unharmed but the windscreen and windows of his car were broken.
Seven people were arrested for their alleged involvement in the attack.
They would appear in the Sikhukhune Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of malicious damage to property and public violence.
Community spokesperson Fanny Matsunyane, who was waiting with other community members outside the court for the release of the arrested people, threatened that if they were not set free, those outside would insist that they too be arrested.
”The seven did not smash the mayor’s car, but the community did,” he said, adding that the attack was allegedly sparked by the mayor’s bodyguard who drew a gun during a verbal confrontation.
Matsunyane said: ”He was not welcome because he had failed to address issues of service delivery in the area, which led to the cholera outbreak.”
”There is no clean water and the water we get is from a dam that is under construction and has some poisonous chemicals …
”We also get water from streams where dead animals are thrown in. Now we have cholera and people are dying,” Matsunyane said.
”The municipality has also not been assisting the affected families with anything. More people are in hospital because of the cholera outbreak and now they want to look like they are supportive.”
He added that the community gave the mayor a memorandum stating their grievances during a march last week, but they had not received a response.
Greater Tubatse Municipality spokesperson Jermina Kaka could not give details about Saturday’s attack but confirmed that the mayor had received the community’s memorandum last week Thursday.
”They had a march and issued a memorandum of complaints about the cholera outbreak in their area … their main complaint, which is related to water, needs to be addressed by the Greater Sikhukhune District Municipality,” Kaka said.
A district municipality spokesperson was unavailable to comment immediately. — Sapa