Pretoria - Peace and calm appear to have been restored to Tshwane’s troubled townships following days of violent protests that engulfed the city.
Most parts had been rendered inaccessible due to road closures, looting of shops and the torching of vehicles during protests sparked by the announcement of former cabinet member Thoko Didiza as Tshwane’s mayoral candidate, ahead of the upcoming local government elections.
The protests saw most of the shopping centres, malls and tuck shops closing their doors as looting sprees became the order of the day, with two trucks and a bus torched on Tuesday.
Townships affected by protests included Atteridgeville, Mamelodi, Hammanskraal, Soshanguve and Mabopane.
While the situation had calmed by Wednesday morning, workers at Morula Complex in Mabopane were left stunned after numerous shops were vandalised and looted during Tuesday’s protests.
A security official, Peter Letsoalo, said an angry crowd of protesters stormed the complex shortly after a community meeting.
“The complex was already closed because we heard about the things that were happening in other parts of Pretoria. But after a community meeting, about 100 of them came here and broke the gate before throwing rocks at some of the windows and helping themselves to whatever they could,” said Letsoalo.
Police had been stationed at the complex as security was beefed up.
A Pep employee who arrived at work on Wednesday morning to a vandalised shop was worried about her income.
“What are my kids going to eat? How am I going to get paid if I don’t work?” asked a worried Nomsa Nxumalo.
“What they did was wrong. If they have a problem with the ANC they must go sort it out with them and not take out their frustrations on us,” she said.
Reports of looting became widespread by Tuesday night as communities allegedly broke into and stole merchandise from foreign-owned shops.
To quell the unrest, the ANC’s leadership visited Atteridgeville and engaged with community members. But residents remained resolute in their anti-Didiza stance and threatened to either vote for opposition parties or not vote at all.