Cape Town - Two police officers were receiving medical treatment after they allegedly sustained head injuries from attacks by community members who burned their vehicle.
Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said a Durbanville police vehicle that was passing through School Street in Extension 3, Mfuleni, was allegedly torched by angry community members who vented their anger against law enforcement vehicles after the City’s law enforcement officials demolished structures in the area on Sunday afternoon.
Rwexana said the crowd pelted the vehicles with stones and later set alight the vehicle. She said on arrival the public order police who were summoned to the scene found no groups in the area.
She said they continued to monitor the area, and detectives had opened cases of public violence, attempted murder and malicious damage to property.
The protest was organised by a movement called Intlungu yaseMatyotyombeni (Pain of the Slums), which is made up informal settlement dwellers who believe they were neglected during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Movement chairperson Xoliswa Tsholoba said they could not be without services for 10 months and be expected to be healthy citizens during the pandemic.
Tsholoba said the threats and eviction orders from local authorities needed to stop. “We are not from any other country… we are South African citizens.”
However, she said they were not involved in burning the police vehicle, and distanced themselves from it.
The protests, which started last month, resulted in many people being injured, buses and vehicles being torched, and traffic disrupted.
During the protests, Water and Waste Mayco member Xanthea Limberg said providing services was a challenge when, due to unlawful occupation, residents settled on land that was not suitable for the installation of such services.
Limberg said the City was not allowed to install services on privately owned land without permission and in those instances could install services only on the periphery, on City-owned land.
Cape Argus