Bhisho mulls destruction of public property in protests

THE Democratic Alliance is calling for further arrests of those suspected of damaging public property during service delivery protests.

In the Eastern Cape alone there have been 1 745 protests between 2016 and 2017.

This was revealed in the reply by safety and security liaison MEC Weziwe Tikana to written questions submitted by the DA.

The party caucus leader in the legislature, Bobby Stevenson, said there should be consequences for people who break the law.

“People who break the law should be criminally charged. There can be no excuse,” said Stevenson.

Tikana said the department had been able to make some arrests with regard to damage to municipal infrastructure.

He said those arrests included 32 made in Buffalo City Metro and 46 in Cofimvaba, all between 2017 and 2018.

One arrest was made regarding people burning tyres on municipal roads in the 2017/18 financial year in Komani. No such arrests have been made in the current year.

In 2015 the Criminal Matters Amendment Act was signed into law.

This act stipulates that any person who unlawfully and intentionally tampers with, damages or destroys essential infrastructure is guilty of an offence.

If found guilty, the offender may be sentenced to a jail term of up to 30 years or fined anything up to R100-million.

Stevenson said: “The blocking of roads and destruction of property amounts to a form of economic sabotage.

“People cannot get to work, produce can’t get to markets and tourists bypass these areas,” said Stevenson.