Durban – A meeting between the ANC and protesting iSithebe residents will take place on Friday on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.
Crowds are awaiting an address by MEC for Economic Development & Tourism in KZN, Mike Mabuyakhulu. The area is under heavy police guard and the distant drone of a police helicopter can be heard over the crowd which has been waiting since 11am to be addressed.
This comes after a week of violent protests in the area which lead to the arson of eight factories, six trailers and one truck. Two other businesses in the area were vandalised and two foreign owned stores were looted.
On Thursday industrialists and politicians in the area met at the Darnall Country Club to try to resolve the iSithebe violence where KZN ANC Provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala assured the industrial community that it would be business as usual by Monday.
By Thursday evening reinforcement had been sent to the area in the form of 35 Public Order Police units, 35 Rapid Intervention Units and 50 Tactical Response Teams.
Friday’s community meeting is the second meeting to be held after a failed attempt on Wednesday afternoon. Protesters have said that they will not negotiate with authorities until the 120 captured protesters are released. However, according to Thursday’s meeting, authorities are not willing to release the captured protesters.
IOL MOJO