Looting, riots continue in North West
LOOTING continued unabated in Mahikeng, North West, yesterday, as the call for Premier Supra Mahumapelo to vacate office grew.
In Lonely Park, north of Mahikeng, youngsters used catapults to launch stones at the police along Nelson Mandela Drive near the Hotel School and used corrugated iron sheets as shields as they threw stones at the police.
The police fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse the raging youngsters and in the midst of a cat and mouse game between them and the police, a truck parked at Agri-Market in Lonely Park was petrol bombed.
Fire fighters were called to extinguish the fire under police guard, some members of the police went into the township to disperse pockets of protesters who had blocked the roads with branches and rocks.
North West police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Adele Myburgh said a police armoured vehicle was petrol bombed in Danville, south of Mahikeng. She said a police officer’s house was also attacked by a rioting crowd.
“She was not hurt; police members were near to her house and assisted her. Only one room of her house was damaged.”
Residents of Mahikeng and surrounding villages shut down the capital, demanding that Mahumapelo resign.
The protest was ignited by the death of two people at Montshioa Stad Clinic on Tuesday: the two could not receive medical attention at the clinic due to the ongoing National Education Health and Allied Workers Union led strike in the province.
Residents want Mahumapelo to resign on allegations of rampant corruption under his leadership.
A motion of no confidence in Mahumapelo was postponed on Tuesday, after the EFF requested that Speaker Sussana Dantjie postpone the motion while they approached the courts to force the motion to be conducted through a secret ballot. Dantjie wanted the motion to proceed through an open ballot. – African News Agency (ANA)
FIRE FIGHTERS WERE CALLED TO EXTINGUISH THE FIRE UNDER POLICE GUARD