Service delivery march turns ugly
The real reason behind the break out is still not clear as it remains a "he said, she said".
Sine Thwala
A SERVICE delivery march that was held by various community members from the rural parts of eastern Vryheid on Monday last week turned horribly ugly after violence broke out.
According to Mr Mcebo Bophela, who was one of the unfortunate protestors to get badly hurt during the commotion that arose, the people had not been violent at all.
“We held the march from the early hours of the morning and projected no violence whatsoever,” Bophela told his story whilst sitting on a bed in Vryheid Hospital where he spent the night.
The Vryheid police are said to have arrived at 9am and were followed by the Ulundi police shortly thereafter.
By this time the strike had gotten really intense and two buss-loads of school children had been forced to join.
The real reason behind the break out is still not clear as it remains a “he said, she said”.
The SAPS’ Colonel Luvuno said that the crowd was protesting illegally and this was the reason the police were sent out to Bernica to disperse the crowd.
“There are proper procedures and documents that need to be obtained from the municipality in order for a march to take place that is common knowledge,” said Col Luvuno.
He said that the protestors started to get out of control as they forced children who were being transported by buses to a nearby school in Bernica to join them.
“Such was unlawful and unacceptable,” he said.
It is believed that this is how the commotion where 26 protestors were arrested started.
Bophela was one of the protestors who were hit by the rubber bullets fired by the police after allegedly attempting to resist when he was being pushed to a police van.
“I never resisted or tried to fight with the police but they still put teargas in my eyes and I was then taken by my legs and carried to the van,” said Bophela.
He went on to say that all this made him angry and he thereafter saw no need to get inside the van.
” I had been disrespected and humiliated and by this time I was extremely angry and scrambled out of the van and started to walk away. It is at this time that the police opened fire and hit me with rubber bullets on different parts of my body including my head,” Bophela said.
A police vehicle was damaged during the incident.
“The people that were arrested were taken in for malicious damage to property and public violence and appeared in court on Tuesday,” said Col Luvuno who also pointed out that they were all released and cautioned to not repeat their actions in future.
