A man speaking on behalf of protesters in Wesselton, Mpumalanga, last week was apparently arrested along with a few others on charges of damaging property, his brother said on Monday.
“He [Dumisani Mahaye] was arrested this morning...at our mother's house at around 2.15am,” Simphiwe Mahaye told Sapa.
“The police said they destroyed property...streetlights...we went to Ermelo police station to look for him but he's not there.”
The brother said police moved through the township from midnight.
Captain Leonard Hlathi could not confirm Mahaye's arrest but said a number of people were arrested in the township on Sunday.
A community meeting with senior leaders of the ANC had been scheduled for Monday, following which a decision to take action would have been made.
“Maybe they did this because they didn't want the meeting to take place,” Mahaye said.
Dumisane had told Sapa last week that the community was not happy about the state of service delivery in the area, unemployment and the manner in which candidates for the forthcoming municipal elections were selected.
An Msukaligwa municipality spokesman, Surprise Ngcongo, however said that violent protests in the township last week had nothing to do with service delivery, citing political reasons as the cause. - Sapa