15 held by cops for house party
Eastern Cape police shut down a house party and arrested 15 young people, including six minors, for unlawful gathering in King William’s Town over the weekend.
The minors were released on a warning, while the nine adults were fined of R2 000 before their release.
Those arrested were between 15 and 23 years old.
The adults are expected to appear in court on 6 October, said police spokesperson Colonel Sibongile Soci.
The group were charged for unlawful gathering under the Disaster Management Act.
The arrests took place at a Clubview suburb house at 7.30pm on Saturday.
The arrest was captured in a viral video.
In the video, police officers can be heard informing others that more of the young revellers are hiding in wardrobes.
The community made headlines for all the right reasons last year when it organised weekend-long celebrations for season 15 SA Idols winning contestant Luyolo Yiba, who hails from the area.
On Tuesday, Buffalo City Metro Ward 37 councillor Ntombekhaya Ntshebe said residents supported Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s call for a reimposition of the ban on the sale of alcohol.
“This disturbing news has left the community in shock. We are disappointed by the behaviour of our children,” said Mtshebe.
“This is disappointing. During Luyolo Yiba’s celebration last year, we spoke and encouraged the youth in the area, motivating them to stay away from drugs and alcohol.
“Moreover, they do this at a time when we are fighting against this pandemic, where social distancing is strongly encouraged. As the community, we support the call by the EC premier to once again ban alcohol.”
Ntshebe said once gatherings were permitted, the young people in the area would be called and addressed about the incident.
“This occurrence is unfortunate because we can’t have a gathering in the community where we can address this behavior directly to the kids. However, should we get to an alert level that allows gatherings, we will have an outreach programme and educate our children,” he said
Chairperson of the Clubview Residents Association, Thembalethu Ngalwana, said the young partygoers laughed when ordered them to end the party.
“When we arrived, we saw the bad atmosphere, with loud music and kids with glasses of booze.
“We said all those who were not staying there must go to their homes but it was so unfortunate because we were just a laughing stock to them, and only a few heeded our call,” said Ngalwana.
Ngalwana said police arrived in a few minutes and dealt with the situation.
– News24 Wire