A clinic was burned down and 11 municipal vehicles torched during overnight protest action in Winnie Mandela Informal Settlement in Tembisa.
In addition, foreign-owned shops were looted and roads blocked during a protest against the Red Ants.Lt Kay Makhubela, speaking on behalf of Gauteng police, said the protest started around 7pm on Tuesday after the Red Ant Security and Eviction Services disconnected illegal electricity in several houses.”One resident was arrested and charged with theft after he was found inside one of the looted shops. The rest managed to run away on foot.”
Authorities are keeping a close eye on the situation.
Although still tense on Wednesday morning, people in Winnie Mandela were able to go to work and children went to schools without any hiccups.
The executive mayor of Ekurhuleni, Clr Mondli Gungubele, visited the area on Wednesday morning. He expressed disgust at the thugs who set the Winnie Mandela clinic and customer care centre alight last night.
Speaking to the community, a fuming Gungubele made it clear council would pull all stops to ensure that those behind “these senseless acts of hooliganism” were put behind bars. He urged residents to co-operate with the police in their work by sharing critical information that would result in arrests and successful prosecution of the perpetrators.
“It is quite sad when you see these incidents. How do you set a clinic on fire when you and your family are dependent on it for survival? This just does not make sense. Our Constitution allows our people to embark on a protest if they are unhappy with something and everyone must respect that. “However, when such actions turn violent and criminal, we must be ready to respond the best way we know how and protect our property and innocent people,” Gungubele pointed out.
The thugs also made off with council equipment, including computers from the care centre. The City of Ekurhuleni loses in the region of R200 million on illegal connections a year.
“The community must understand that no amount of intimidation and vandalism will prevent us from dealing with illegal connections in the city. The theft of electricity does not only set us back financially, it also interferes with our programme of broadening services to other areas. We have the responsibility as government to protect our people from danger and that is what we are going to do,” Gungubele added.
He rebuked the community for destroying existing infrastructure when they had new demands, “because this is tantamount to taking three steps forward and 10 steps back”.
“What has happened here means we must now find resources to replace the damaged property when we could be broadening our services to those who do not have.”
Gungubele requested the police to become more vigilant and take no prisoners in dealing with criminal elements in society, especially those who carry out their criminal activities behind the guise of service delivery protests.
Meanwhile, a team of officials and politicians have been tasked to engage with the community of Winnie Mandela in an effort to bring stability in the area.
Graham Gersbach, DA MPL, said Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality was currently carrying out a campaign to deal with illegal power connections that cost the metro millions of rands every year.
“Illegal connections are not only dangerous but they also impact negatively on the metro’s revenue collection, ultimately effecting service delivery.
“While the DA condemns the violent protests in Winnie Mandela, the metro has brought this situation upon itself by failing to electrify the rapidly expanding Winnie Mandela section,” Gersbach said.
“To further infuriate residents, Gungubele, when visiting the area, allegedly informed residents that “we will fight you over illegal connections”, instead of providing a viable strategy to electrify the area.
“Residents in Winnie Mandela who are connected and pay electricity are unfairly caught in the middle of this situation. I will liaise with my fellow DA colleagues in Ekurhuleni to ensure that the metro addresses the electricity supply in this area as a matter of urgency,” Gersbach said.
These protests followed similar ones late last year when a library was burned down.
