City of Joburg customer service centre petrol-bombed

Johannesburg - The City of Johannesburg's Jabuvu customer centre in Soweto was on Friday destroyed after a tyre and two petrol bombs were thrown into the offices, the City said in a statement.

Member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for finance, Funzela Ngobeni, said minimal damage was caused inside one of the offices.

"The City of Johannesburg condemns this in the strongest terms and will ensure that those responsible face the full might of the law," said Ngobeni.

"No employees or residents were injured as a result of the bombing. We are putting measures in place to ensure that there is business continuity at the centre."

The centre’s management said the incident took place on Thursday night following a series of Eskom-related outages in the area.

"While the community has every right to be aggrieved about the poor service delivery by the national electricity provider, such actions are unjustified because they impact the community and prevent access to basic municipal services," said Ngobeni.

The MMC said the city has already dispatched additional security, including Johannesburg Metro Police, in and around the centre.

The case of arson and malicious damage to property has been opened at the Moroka police station.

African News Agency (ANA)