Modimolle - Two Modimolle protest leaders have been arrested at the troubled Phakgameng township in Limpopo during a service delivery protest.
The arrest comes after a day residents of Modimolle’s townships relaunched service delivery protests and vandalised the mayor’s house.
Protest leaders said they were being targeted by the municipality and police as they escalated demands for access to clean water.
Alfred Maremane, one of the arrested leaders, told African News Agency (ANA) from inside a police vehicle shortly after his arrest: “We were trying to negotiate with the municipality leaders because our demands are clear, we need clean water, but police fired at us… they shot me at my right leg and apprehended me.”
He said the communities resorted to protest action again because the ANC and Modimolle local municipality had failed to remove non-performing councillors.
Part of their demands were that mayor Kgaretja Lekalakala and her entire council be dissolved.
“If the ANC wants to make sure that there is order, they must remove the councillors, or make sure that we have water. If they don’t do this, they will lose Modimolle and we are declaring war,” he added.
The protests started on Friday, with protesters burning tyres and blockading the R101 road between Mookgopong and Modimolle.
On Tuesday, they continued with the protests, barring motorists from using the non-toll road that links Pretoria and Polokwane.
Police confirmed that there was rubble and stones across the road and that no traffic was passing through Modimolle’s Thabo Mbeki street.
“The house of the mayor was attacked this (on Tuesday) morning some damage was reported, nobody was injured,” said police spokesperson Ronel Otto.
ANA