Johannesburg - Children as young as 5 were used to gain entry into foreign-owned shops in Mohlakeng, Randfontein, on Wednesday during a violent service delivery protest organised by the EFF.
Residents took to the streets and set buildings alight, including a clinic, library, municipal offices and mayor Sylvia Thebenare’s house.
On Thursday morning Gauteng police said the area had been quiet during the night.
"The area is calm and all the roads have been opened for public use," said Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng.
Mofokeng said police were still keeping a close eye on the area.
"In the past 12 hours, no incident of looting or vandalism has been reported," he said.
On Wednesday many of the foreign-owned shops were closed as a result of the protest as residents, including several children, came out in numbers to take part.
Children were used to squeeze through burglar bars of some shops and hand over the goods to adults.
Some children were seen carrying the stolen items in the streets.
A children’s organisation, the Teddy Bear Clinic, expressed concern over the involvement of children in protests.
“If adults are involving children in looting and xenophobia, we will face big problems in the future,” spokeswoman Vincentia Dlamini Ngobese said on Wednesday.
“From an early age we must instil the correct values in our children so that they can be responsible and caring adults. As a society, we need to understand the impact normalising children to violence will have on them.”
Resident Thandi Letaba said the use of youngsters was wrong.
“Our children should not be used to participate in this disgusting behaviour. They will think it’s okay to take what’s not theirs,” she said.
Gauteng Co-operative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements MEC Jacob Mamabolo condemned the violence, which he blamed on the EFF.
“The EFF had requested permission to march, and since it is only democratic for people to raise their concerns, permission was granted to them. Instead of marching and handing in their memorandum as they had mentioned, they started their violent acts.”
Mamabolo said the burning down of government properties and barricading of roads was a “backward tactic” that would not help to solve any of the residents’ issues.
“This is a cowardly act and a total disregard for our democracy. In fact, the EFF is saying ‘Away with democracy’ and advocating for a chaotic society characterised by violence, civil strife and general disorder,” he said.
The EFF’s West Rand regional chairwoman, Christina Mabala, said local ANC members had started the fires.
“Some people within the ANC decided to use the opportunity to burn properties and loot. We, as the EFF, distance ourselves from the violent acts and damage to property,” she said.
Mabala said the EFF had organised a march from Mohlakeng township to Randfontein to hand over a memorandum of grievances to Thebenare.
“We also received calls that people were burning buildings in the township after police fired rubber bullets at those who decided to turn back. Mamabolo was not there. He should stop making false accusations against the EFF.”
Thebenare’s family, who have been a target after similar protests in recent years, were seen huddling outside the house while firefighters were putting out the raging flames.
“We have tried to tell her about our problems but she wouldn’t listen; we had to take action,” said Ndoro Masipo, who admitted to being part of the group involved in setting Thebenare’s house alight.
One of them ran out of the building sobbing. She was unharmed and taken to hospital to be treated for shock.
Police fired rubber bullets and sprayed teargas to disperse the angry and violent crowd.
The protesters left the scene but continued looting.
A Chinese businessman whose shop was open was forced into a storeroom with his wife while the protesters ransacked the premises.
They were rescued when police arrived at the scene and dispersed the crowd by firing another round of rubber bullets.
Police were, however, unable to prevent the looting from spreading to other foreign-owned shops.
The crowd became unruly and jumped onto roofs to gain entry to shops that were locked.
“We are going to cause chaos until justice is done,” resident Lengslot Madika said.
“We are sick and tired of officials who can buy fleets of cars but can’t give us proper service.”
– Additional reporting by Sapa
The Star