Protest in Louis Trichardt remains peaceful

LOUIS TRICHARDT – An ‘urgent message’ posted early last Friday morning on Facebook, BBM, Whatsapp and other social media had some local residents on high alert.

The message warned of buses full of people about to arrive in town in order to forcefully close down all the stores.

‘Hundreds of protesters were coming to Louis Trichardt in 20 buses to throw foreigners out of their shops and to protest in front of the Makhado Municipality about a water crisis,’ the message warned.

As a result, some stores in Krogh Street closed their doors at around 09:00 and some stores did not open at all.

The protestors, who were part of the Waterval community, did arrive, and started their protest march at the Information Centre just after 08:00 with the Makhado police keeping an eye on proceedings.

Makhado police spokesperson, Const Irene Radzilane, confirmed that the march was a service delivery protest by the Waterval community.

“They went to hand over a memorandum of grievances to the Makhado mayor,” Radzilane said.

Municipal spokesperson, Louis Bobodi, confirmed receipt of the memorandum.

“The memorandum listed the scrapping of all service debts, addressing the water shortage issue, the grading and re-graveling of streets as the main problems,” Bobodi said.

He added that the municipality would address the community’s requests as soon as possible.

“The issue of the scrapping of debts was already an item on the council’s agenda when it convened last Tuesday, and it was referred back to administration for legal scrutiny whereafter a resolution will be taken during the next council sitting,” Bobodi explained.

The march proceeded peacefully after the handover.