Police chase protesters away after an Algoa bus was torched in Wells Estate in Gqeberha on Tuesday. Protesters are demanding that the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality install the electricity boxes they were promised.
Wells Estate in Gqeberha was brought to a standstill this week by protesters who blocked roads, burning a bus and a panel van on Tuesday.
The protest started on Monday night when protesters poured human excrement outside the homes of ward committee members and at the Wells Estate clinic.
Residents of Rabie Village are demanding their homes be connected to formal electricity and claim this was promised to them by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse Van Rensburg, in a statement, said protesters from Rabie Village threw a petrol bomb towards the councillor’s office but this was quickly extinguished.
“Community members started burning tyres and rubbish in front of the multi-purpose hall. No one was injured. SAPS is currently monitoring the situation in Wells Estate,” said van Rensburg.
She added that Public Order Police used rubber bullets and stunt grenades to disperse protesters. She confirmed that two women were arrested for public violence. They will appear in court soon.
Chwayita Adoons, assistant to ward 60 councillor and mayco member for human settlements, Thembinkosi Mfana, told GroundUp that the electricity boxes were due to arrive in November last year but did not. Mfana met representatives of Rabie Village earlier this month. About 4,000 meter boxes were delivered to the municipality but most of these did not make it to Rabie Village.
“Soon after that meeting, we wrote a letter to the residents, informing them that the boxes would be delayed. We did not have a specific date for delivery. Rabie Village residents protested on 8 July, the same day the contractor arrived to install 40 electricity meters.
“But residents refused this, saying the 40 boxes were too few so they would continue protesting,” she said. Rabie Village has 985 households according to Adoons.
She accused protesters of refusing to discuss the matter with councillors to resolve the dispute.
A Rabie Village resident, who asked not to be named, said, “We are all angry, asking one another who was going to benefit from those 40 boxes. People then decided that the boxes should go back, and the contractor should only return when they have boxes for every household.”
The resident added that they are now demanding that protesters who were arrested be released immediately. “We will escalate the protest until they are freed and have all charges against them dropped.”
Streets in Rabie Village, Wells Estate were lettered with burnt rubble and stones on Tuesday.
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Human rights violations: Violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
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