Malamulele – A Limpopo man has been arrested after he allegedly grabbed a police officer’s service pistol during a scuffle at Xigalo Village in Malamulele on Wednesday.
Another a villager was injured during a scuffle between a voter and police
Police said the incident occurred at the Xigalo Primary School voting station after a voter came to cast his vote.
“During the process, his cellphone rang and he answered. An official from the IEC informed him that is not allowed to answer a phone in polling station,” said police spokeswoman colonel Ronel Otto.
“An argument started and backup from the police station was summoned and two more members arrived.”
Otto said police found a group of people and attempted to disperse them, at which point an argument started.
Otto said villagers started to attack the police with stones and managed to grab the service pistol from one of the members and assaulted another one.
“Three warning shots were fired but no one was shot. One of the suspects ran away with the service pistol and was chased by a member with a police van and the suspect threw the firearm away.”
The firearm was recovered and the suspect arrested, said Otto.
During the chase, the police member lost control of the vehicle and it collided with a fence, hitting a woman walking next to the road.
“She sustained injuries and was taken to Malamulele hospital in a stable condition,” said Otto.
Otto said before the voting station closed, the situation was calm and people were casting their votes with no further problems.
African News Agency