A peaceful protest bemoaning five weeks of no water in Riebeeckstad ended in chaos when members of the Public Order Policing (POP) unit shot at least two stun grenades at the crowd of about 40 to disperse them.The protestors comprised mostly women, small children, and the elderly.
Const. Masilela Langa, media liaison officer for the Lejweleputswa police, confirms that on Wednesday, 8 February, at about 16:30 approximately 40 Riebeeckstad residents in Welkom blockaded a road with stones, disrupting the traffic flow and complaining about service delivery.
“The Welkom POP was called to the scene and stun grenades were used to disperse the crowed. The police have opened a case docket of public violence. No injuries or arrests were reported,” said Langa.
The residents are despondent and disenfranchised by the response of the police.
“But we made our point, and we had a lot of fun as neighbours and friends doing so. The police were aggressive in their response, and the use of the stun grenades was totally unnecessary.
“The police looked foolish in their response. There were more women than men in the small group. The police responded with four police vehicles and ten police officials against a handful of peaceful protestors,” a resident told Vista.
She says one of the protestors actually retorted when the police arrived by saying that they do not even have landlines for residents to contact them in times of crisis, but they arrived enforce to “quell” the “uprising.”
Residents say they planned their protest so that there were two exits for motorists at the shop and the garage in Mc Lean Street, where they held their protest.
“No streets in front of the primary school or the crèche were blocked, and none of the roads to Welkom or Hennenman were closed or inaccessible,” she says.
Residents say that more protest marches are in the offing. “The anger and frustration will only be resolved when there is water in the taps. On Thursday the water came on for an hour, and then it was gone again. On Thursday night, cable thieves took our electricity. No water, no electricity, what next?” she said.
Armand Cloete of the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) says the irony of Riebeeckstad’s water problems is that the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, was in Matjhabeng in November last year.
“According to Mchunu, he was satisfied with the so-called progress with water and sanitation. What progress? Both the mayor, David Kalipha, and Mchunu live in a dream world if they think things are getting better,” says Cloete.
He says Riebeeckstad’s ongoing water shortages are precisely the result of years of poor maintenance, poor planning, poor municipal management, and poor financial management by the ANC. While the municipality, according to the auditor-general, loses as much as 56% of the water it purchases due to illegal connections and outdated pipes, an entire suburb is without water for five weeks.
“All the mayor did was refer it to the minister. All the minister did was pay a visit and be satisfied with the so-called progress. Even though the department has allocated R150 million to repair the infrastructure, it does not solve the immediate problem. People need water now. The minister and the mayor must come and explain when the town will have water. The time for empty promises is past. The Riebeeckstad water situation is not only a disaster, but a gross infringement of human rights,” says Cloete.
https://fb.watch/izFhuLYvZC/?mibextid=6aamW6Riebeeckstad protesthttps://fb.watch/izFhuLYvZC/?mibextid=6aamW6
