City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) mayor Ald Tania Campbell called for calm to be restored to Thembisa.

“Citizens have a constitutional right to protest, however, acts of arson and vandalism to public infrastructure will not be tolerated,” warns Campbell.

She says last week she delegated five Members of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) to engage residents on a memorandum they had submitted to the city.

Also read: #ThembisaShutdown: Chaos erupts as community takes to the streets [watch]

“That meeting failed to reach resolutions. I will be contacting the Premier of the Gauteng Province through our inter-governmental relations channels to develop a coordinated approach to the impasse by government.

“CoE is concerned that the visuals we are receiving from Thembisa are no longer community-based, but rather a well-orchestrated operation to render the township ungovernable.

“We believe that the current destruction of public infrastructure is politically motivated and intended to undermine the progress of the new administration,” says Campbell.

“Our door has always been open to engage, and we have been engaging with the Thembisa Business Forum as per their memorandum concerns,” says Campbell.