CALM was temporarily restored yesterday in Mooiplaats following a protest by residents on Tuesday.
Tshwane metro police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said that their members had been deployed to monitor the area: “It is still calm for now, but we are monitoring the area until we are sure that everything is back to normal. We’ve deployed our members to patrol the area.”
The protests were related to service delivery grievances in Mooiplaats and the illegal occupation of RDP houses in Olievenhoutbosch Extension 27. They were also reportedly about a missing child and residents wanted authorities to track down a child said to have disappeared last week.
During the protest, residents pelted police and motorists with rocks and police fired back with rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades. Learners were stopped from attending school because of the violence. A police nyala was tipped over by protesters.
While residents said the protest was about the allocation of about 5000 RDP houses, Mahamba said he believed some of protesters were unsure as why they had taken part.
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria last year ordered that residents of Olievenhoutbosch, who illegally occupied the RDP houses meant for residents of Mooiplaats informal settlement, should be evicted by the end of last June.
“We were trying to engage, but we couldn’t go deeper into the reasons behind yesterday’s (Tuesday) riots. We are thinking that some of those people were misled; people didn’t really have information of what it was that they were looking for. Some were saying they were protesting over a missing child, but we were unable to identify the child,” he said.
Community leader Phineas Tshabalala warned that the protest could erupt again, until President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed them.