Shop-owners killed many of those who died
“WHEN the chaos started, it spread like wildfire. By the time we heard protesters in Bloemendal were looting shops, there were already fires far up Stanford Road in Windvogel.”
Shops being looted, police vehicles used for ambulances, and shop-owners taking the law into their own hands were just some of the scenes of chaos an emergency worker remembers from the week that followed August 6 1990, when residents of Port Elizabeth’s northern areas protested over evictions and exorbitant rents.
“The police, fire department and ambulance services worked well together. We knew where we needed to be, and we knew the only way of doing our jobs was to work together.”
The man, who did not want to be named, said many of them were dropped into the middle of the uprising and worked for five days without any sleep or showers.
“There was no time. We barely had time to eat. The police just finished clearing a crowd in Helenvale, then chaos erupted in Schauderville. As you finish up in Schauder, you get a call to go to Bloemendal immediately. And that’s how it went from that Monday, right through to the weekend.”
The man said police officers used force to drive groups of protesters apart, but what few people knew was that many of the 59 people who lost their lives were looters who were killed when shop-owners started fighting back.
“While protesters were clashing with the police, a different criminal element came forth. Residents, many who had nothing to do with the actual protest, start- ed looting shops and burning them down.
“People broke into butcheries and ran down the street with whole sheep over their shoulders. Shops were stripped clean in five minutes.
“That’s when shop-owners decided to protect their property. Not all the injuries and fatalities can be blamed on the police.
“We saw how shop-owners came out with guns, shooting and killing people looting their shops. The police could not be everywhere at once, and the shop-owners took the law into their own hands.”
Police officers often had to load wounded protesters into their vehicles and transport them to hospital, because ambulances were already filled to capacity.
“In the end police used shopowners and the residents’ self-formed street committees, people who acted as security in their own neighbourhoods, to their advantage.”
Officers lied to street committees, telling everyone looters from other areas were mobilising to plunder their shops and homes. This made everyone stay home, barricade their streets and wait for looters who were doing exactly the same in their own neighbourhoods.
“That was the only way to dampen the chaos to such a point we could start cleaning up the streets.
“The recovery had to take place in three ways – physically, which included the shops and businesses that were damaged; mentally, for the people who lost loved ones and had to adapt to their new lives without them; and recovery within the community, to rebuild unity among the people. The people in the northern areas still haven’t recovered in any of these ways.”