The owner of the construction company whose excavator machine was hijacked and used by service delivery protesters to damage the road, fears for the future of his business.
Speaking to The Star following the circulation of a video showing a community member using the machine to break up parts of the road in Sarafina informal settlement, Klerksdorp, the businessman said he has been receiving threats following Tuesday’s protest in the North West town.
The machine, which was used to damage the road and block traffic coming from the N12, belongs to Khanyi Mambo Construction.
The excavator is believed to have been stolen around 12pm on Tuesday before it was discovered about four hours later.
“Right now, business is not running. We are currently trying to assess the situation to see if we can continue to operate but we are not safe,” an employee said.
VIDEO: Protestors destroy road at Sarafina entrance next to N12 yesterday afternoon. They hijacked an excavator and started to break up the road between Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom. pic.twitter.com/37iWlHUEN4
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) June 26, 2019
The company owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, said this was not the first time the firm was being targeted by protesters.
“Two weeks ago, I got a call that protesters had taken my two trucks
to the N12 and held my driver hostage. I lost about R36000 that day and police had to rescue my driver,” he said.
He said although community members said they were not
fighting the business, they threatened to “harm workers if the
company did not co-operate”.
“They have informed us that they are not fighting us but they need our machines. They also said if we are not willing to assist, they will hurt us,” said the man.
Tebogo Ngomezulu, a community leader, said: “We just want the land so that a geographical assessment can be done.
“We agreed to just barricade the road and burn tyres, but others have obviously come with ideas to get people’s attention by stealing and destroying the roads.”
The ANC deputy chairperson in the area Godfrey Xhalabile said the protest was sparked by people who had, for years, been looking for land to occupy.
Potchefstroom police spokesperson Adele Myburgh confirmed that a case of malicious damage to property was being investigated.