Tribal court petrol bombed
THE multi-million rand Somopho Tribal Court, including important documentation, was gutted by fire on Friday.
It is believed the fire is linked to last week's protest action which rendered the R34 near Tronox impassable on Wednesday and Thursday as it was blocked with trucks and burning tyres by community members demanding jobs from Tronox.
According to a resident living near the tribal court, a suspect was seen entering the court and throwing a petrol bomb through the window, before leaving the area.
‘We saw a white bakkie driving towards the gate.
'One man alighted from the van and went straight onto the court premises before throwing something through the window and leaving.
'After a short while, we saw thick black smoke and flames coming out through the windows, and the entire building was engulfed in flames,’ she said.
This occurred shortly after a full-time court secretary had left for the day.
Acting Inkosi, Shilo Mthembu said the incident was associated with the riots under KwaSomopho Tribal Authority.
‘I strongly believe the court was petrol bombed by protesters demanding jobs from Tronox.
'This happened while we were at a meeting at Tronox, where we were trying to obtain solutions to quell the ongoing community protest. ‘We have lost a lot of important documents, even though some were kept in the safe.
'It will be difficult to replace or to retrieve the information on the documents that we lost in the fire.
'COGTA recently bought new furniture for the court, and the building had been recently renovated.
‘The problem we are facing now is that we don’t know where to conduct our daily work,’ Mthembu said.
On Wednesday, scores of Somopho residents blockaded the R34 with burning tyres, logs and tree branches after abandoning a meeting with Tronox.
One of the protest leaders, Sithandwa Mlungwana told the ZO that they were not happy with Tronox's response.
‘As Somopho residents, we demand that Tronox prioritises us, especially the youth, when it comes to job opportunities.
'Following last month's protest, Tronox promised to look into our demands, but then told us that none of us qualifies to benefit
The challenge lies with the community leadership which has failed to disseminate information to the community
from their learnership programmes because we don’t have maths and science,’ he said.
Tronox Regional Manager: Communities and Corporate Affairs, Nozuko Basson said on Friday they met with the leadership from the Somopho community, and both parties made commitments.
‘As Tronox, we committed to assist in bringing order to the situation.
'We will await feedback from the Somopho leadership once they have met with their broader community,’ said Basson.
Phiwe Mthembu, a businessman representing the interests of the Somopho communities, said Friday's meeting was fruitful. 'During the meeting, it came out that Tronox had no problem and that the challenge lies with the community leadership which has failed to disseminate information to the community.
'We have also discovered that there is a criminal element. We had scheduled a meeting to take place at the tribal court on Tuesday but now it has been destroyed, which is something we are against,' Phiwe said.
King Cetshwayo Cluster police spokesperson, Captain Mbongeni Mdlalose said a case of arson was registered at Empangeni SAPS for investigation, and no arrest has been made.