Three to appear in court after chaos erupted in Tshwane
Police on Tuesday arrested a 39-year old woman and two men aged 39 and 44, for public violence and malicious damage to property.
Three suspects are set to appear before court on Wednesday for public violence and malicious damage to government property during a strike by municipal workers in Tshwane two weeks ago.
This follows “a thorough prosecutorial-led investigation into recent acts of lawlessness at the Tshwane House municipal chambers”, according to national police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters.
She said police on Tuesday arrested a 39-year-old woman and two men (aged 39 and 44) for public violence and malicious damage to property.
This comes as public order police were deployed on 21 July to closely monitor the protest action in the Pretoria CBD as municipal workers went on a rampage, trashing Tshwane metro headquarters after wage talks collapsed.
Tshwane head administrator Mpho Nawa said the members entered Tshwane House, emptied wheelie bins and trashed the CBD streets with litter.
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He strongly condemned the “appalling behaviour” by the protesting workers.
“The right to strike is entrenched in the constitution, but no one has the right to damage the property of the municipality and trash the streets with litter. This behaviour borders on criminality.
Police officers patrolling on foot had to shut down municipal fire hydrants that had been opened and purposely left running, allegedly by the protesters, said Peters.
“The three suspects are expected to appear before the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Thursday.”
She said the SAPS have previously cautioned protesters to desist from acts of criminality during protest actions.
She said this included malicious damage to property and in some cases intimidation of non-protesters.
Gauteng provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela said police would not hesitate to arrest anyone who breaks the law during protests of any nature.
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“Lawlessness can never have a justifiable basis,” said Mawela.
“We must also emphasise the illegality of any gathering during the Covid-19 lockdown, if not for the purposes of a funeral service. Convenors of such illegal gatherings will be charged for contravention of the disaster management regulations.”
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