THE Maake police, assisted by the provincial public order police, had to use rubber bullets to disperse disgruntled Tikiline village residents who staged a service delivery protest on Monday.
Violence erupted as residents displayed their displeasure after Greater Tzaneen mayor, Dikeledi Mmetle, attempted to address them, leading to the police opening fire on the angry crowd.
According to provincial police spokesperson, Col Ronél Otto, residents blocked off roads, burned tyres and started looting foreign-owned shops.
“Police officials had to escort the mayor under guard to speak to the people, but they charged the police and started throwing objects. The mayor had to be taken away in order to ensure her safety,” Otto said, in explanation of why rubber bullets were fired.
Otto called on residents to ensure that their demonstrations were peaceful because, “we have seen that there are always criminals who take advantage of the strikes and steal from shops in the guise of being protesters.”
According to Otto, yesterday (Tuesday) the situation in the area was still tense, with police officials being deployed to maintain peace and order in the area. Three incidents of looting shops on Monday evening had also been reported.
Mmetle confirmed that there were service delivery challenges in the area, but condemned the violence. She admitted there was a lack of water and access to some roads. “We do have these problems, but we are not just sitting back. We appointed engineers to sort out the issues and we call on our people not to expect miracles, but to be patient so that we get quality assistance for these problems.
“Systems are in place and I can assure you that these problems will soon be a thing of the past,” she promised.
