Mr Vusi Shongwe, the Mpumalanga MEC for Community Safety, Security and Liaison, visited Ermelo where he held a meeting with the police’s provincial commissioner Lt. Gen Semakaleng Manamela and other police members on August 6.

This followed after protesters torched three trucks and a double-cab bakkie near Acacia on the Mkhondo (Piet Retief) road on August 4. 

Since the protest five suspects have been charged with public violence and first appeared in the Ermelo Magistrate’s Court on August 10.

Mr Shongwe welcomed the arrests and said, “The police must work very hard and spare no efforts to bring these culprits to justice.” 

He later addressed members of SAPS Tactical Response Team (TRT) and the Public Order Policing (POP) unit as well as DCSSL Traffic Intervention Unit (TIU) at the AJ Swanepoel Stadion.

The MEC pleaded with the members to stick to fighting crime and refrain from being friends with shady characters and criminals because this compromises their work.

Mr Shongwe and other stakeholders later visited the scene where the three trucks were set alight.