BREAKING: Vryheid residents warned to stay home as thousands begin to march
"I don’t know what will happen. My advice to residents is to stay at home if it is possible.” - Mayor Jerry Sibiya
Violence is imminent should the protestors, led by former member of the IFP’s National Executive Committee(NEC), Smangaliso Zwane, meet participants of the legal march organised by the IFP that began at 10am today.
“It is becoming hectic,” warns mayor, Jerry Sibiya, “I have received an SMS indicating that two people have been shot and, yesterday, two men were hit with the back of a gun. I am not in a position to confirm or deny that this actually happened, but I urge the public to be vigilant today. There are two marches. One, which was planned by the IFP, and the other being held by the protestors in Bhekuzulu. I don’t know what will happen. My advice to residents is to stay at home if it is possible.”
Mr Zwane says he has approached the police for an escourt from Bhekuzulu, and more than a thousand protestors will be marching to the municipal buildings on Mark Street to demand answers before the end of the day.
Today’s actions is a consequence of the memorandum, which outlined various fraud allegations and service delivery issues, that was handed to the municipality during a peaceful march three weeks ago, being ignored, according to Mr Zwane.
“The community wants responses from the municipality. How is the director of Corporate Services, Sbonga Dlamini, who made comment on Facebook which humiliated us and violated our human rights, still working at the municipality. People are starting to burn tyres out of frustration. Six of the protestors are in hospital after being beaten by members of the IFP, and one person was shot in the stomach by a councillor. Four people have been arrested,” said Mr Zwane.
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“We want the municipality to initiate an investigation into the allegations we brought forward. What bothers us the most is the fact that the municipal manager is making sure that these investigations don’t take place. The municipal manager is now suing me for R400 000 for defamation and he has asked me to make a public apology, but I stand by what I said at the march. There is nothing that I lied about. It is so embarrassing that the IFP has planned another march to block this march. I don’t know what is wrong with the IFP these days.”
Mr Zwane insists that nobody is being prevented from going to work or school. “Crowds of people are standing by the side of the road and watching. Nobody is interfering with them. They are safe. It is embarrassing that the police are allowing IFP members to run around with guns. They are the ones who will cause this situation to escalate.”
In the video below are IFP members preparing to march from Bhekuzulu:
Protestors led by Mr Zwane began to gather last night and, by this morning, had blocked the entrances to Bhekuzulu, Sasko, Lakeside and Hlobane.
Municipal manager, Bonga Ntanzi, said that Mr Zwane should have spoken to him if he had a problem with Mrs Dlamini as a members of staff, or engaged with the IFP, should he have had a problem with her as an IFP member, instead of resorting to a march.
“I heard three days ago that Smanga told his friends that they must burn down municipal infrastructure and stone the municipal vehicles. We have been on alert since then to protect our infrastructure to the best of our ability. As we speak, Bhekuzulu is on fire. I am going to the police station to open a criminal case against him for mobilising the public to destroy public property. I want to assure the community that their safety is our priority and service delivery is our priority. We have activated all structures of security, including Public Order Policing (POP), Visible Policing (Vispol), traffic and our internal security to ensure that our people and our infrastructure is protected. Let’s join hands to isolate these thugs and make sure our community is safe,” said Mr Ntanzi.
Sifiso Mkhwanazi, the chairperson of the IFP’s Provincial Executive Committee (PEC), denied allegations that today’s uprising was a result of conflict between two factions within the IFP.
“We have learned, through social media, that what is happening today is a result of one guy, Smanga, who is aggrieved by some comments he read on Facebook. The IFP applied for a march with the intention of putting pressure on our court to fast track the case against the ANC members who were arrested for bribing a DA councillor. Smanga is acting on his own, mobilising unemployed youth to toi-toi. He is no longer even a member of the IFP after he colluded with the ANC to fight with the IFP for his own personal gain. If we had known that Smanga was planning such chaos, we may have planned our march for a different day but the police have assured us that they will ensure that the IFP march is peaceful.”
Vryheid SAPS communications officer, Captain Cheryl Venter, warned that some roads are still blocked and protestors have been stoning vehicles.
Head of public safety, Mr TS Mthembu, said some roads have been cleared by the police and it is once again safe to commute.
Buurtwag chairman, André Rheder, confirmed that some order had been restored to Bhekuzulu and Lakeside, but feared that the protestors appeared to be getting riled up again. Buurtwag members have been monitoring the situation but I was disappointed not to see any public safety officials or anyone from the fire department.
AfriForum chairman, André van der Walt, cautioned that the protestors were very aggressive.
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