City moots Ses’khona march ban after looting
THECBD was terrorised by a breakaway protest following a massive Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement march yesterday. Shops were looted, a journalist attacked and vendors robbed as protesters charged through St George’s Mall and Cape Town station.
Now the city has warned that Ses’khona may “never be allowed to legally march (in Cape Town) again” as they plan to start civil action against the organisers for damage caused to council property.
The march began in Keizersgracht at about 10am where Ses’khona supporters gathered in droves. Their familiar songs swelled in volume as new voices joined their ranks, yellow T-shirts proclaiming their allegiance to Ses’khona, its leadership and some to the ANC.
While most supporters were empty handed, a few had brought canes, sjamboks, mallets, whips and even hockey sticks. As they moved off, they brandished them above their heads.
The organisation’s leader, Andile Lili, said he had arranged the march in protest against the Western Cape government’s “failure” to address problems outlined in various memoranda handed over during previous protests.
However, in response, Premier Helen Zille said this was not true, saying that not only had they
answered questions in the memoranda but had also frequently asked to sit down with Ses’khona’s leaders to discuss their grievances.
By noon, Lili had entered the building accompanied by a detail of burly police officers. Moments later he was joined on the steps of the provincial legislature by the Western Cape MEC for Human Settlements Bonginkosi Madikizela.
Over the roar of the crowd, Madikizela tried to explain the money the Western Cape government would be putting towards creating housing in the areas outlined in the memorandum. By 1pm, Lili told the marchers to return to their homes and prepare to mobilise.
The city’s mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, said this was when a group of around 200 protesters dashed towards St George’s Mall. The road had already been partially cleared, with stalls at the Earth Fair Market packed up as soon its organisers heard the shouting crowd first turning onto Wale Street.
Formal shops were shut, with the nervous peeking out from between the gaps in the shutters.
However, the informal vendors were left exposed. A stall in front of Newspaper House was looted, with protesters grabbing bottles of cool drinks and packets of popcorn.
Stall owner Ismail Solomons, who sells books on St George’s Mall, said vendors were purposefully targeted and “terrorised” by Ses’khona’s supporters. When he saw the protesters rushing towards his shop he did nothing.
“They can do what they want, I’m not going to stop them.”
But they ignored his stall, turning right and heading directly towards a vendor selling leather belts and bags. The vendor’s stall was ripped apart as he wrestled with the looters who were grabbing handbags.
Packing up his goods after the protesters had fled, the stall’s owner, who didn’t want to be named, said: “They just took three of my bags.” Police arrested two of the thieves. When protesters rushed into Cape Town station, Rumana Akoob, a member of IOL’s Mojo team, was busy filming the action on her smartphone. Experience in covering protests, she tensed up when a protester rushed towards her, expecting him to try and bump the phone out of her hand.
But she was holding onto the smartphone tightly, so when h leaned in to try and knock it from her grasp it didn’t budge. That when she was pushed to the groun and a group of men began kickin her. “I held my breath and waited fo them to stop,” she said – she was sti holding onto her phone.
But when they pulled her hair sh shrieked. A group of protesters near by heard her call for help and cam running over, pushing her attacker away so she could run.
She wasn’t the only victim insid the railway station. Protester attacked vendors, ripping bags o chips from their hands and empty ing their ice buckets of cool drink However, for every protester wh robbed the sellers on the platform there were three more offering t help tidy up and gather ransacke stocks.
Police confirmed one of th arrests, saying that a 26-year-ol man was arrested for the possessio of stolen property. Spokesman Cap tain FC van Wyk said cases of pub lic violence and malicious damag to property were being investigated
No injuries were reported.