A GREAT North Transport bus was set alight in Seshego outside Polokwane, Limpopo, on Wednesday, 26 October, during a violent protest over water.
This after public transport operators were urged not to operate and residents not to go to work. Schools and shops were also closed during the protest.
With the protest turning violent, the police fired rubber bullets to disperse more than 500 protestors.
The residents, who spent over four months without water, believe they were shot at to stop them from going to the Polokwane Municipality. They closed all entrances leading in and out of Seshego and surrounding extensions with stones, rubble and burning tyres. They also shut down the Polokwane CBD while they headed to the municipal offices to hand over their memorandum of demands to Mayor John Mpe.
When they couldn’t find him, they waited outside the offices and closed all entrances, demanding to see only Mpe.
Community leader Malose Thembo said they would turn the city into Vuwani if their demands were not met.
“We are disappointed with how the municipality is treating us. It is now more than four times that we come here to submit our memorandum with no results.
“The municipality is undermining the people of Seshego,” he said.
The protest came as Mpe was set to meet with Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu on Thursday, 27 October, to address the water situation.
In a statement on Tuesday, 25 October, Mpe said any violent protest and sabotage of infrastructure was discouraged.
