public violence – praag.org

House near Zeerust burnt down in witchcraft incident

Motswedi police near Zeerust have arrested twelve suspects on charges of Public Violence and Malicious damage to property on 13 December 2013 at Lobatla village.

It is alleged that the community members went to Lobatla Tribal office and complained about a man whom they alleged to have bewitched another community member who died a week ago. After the alleged death of the community member no case was registered with the police. Police were also invited to the meeting to address the community.

It is alleged that after the police had left, the community went to the victim’s house and burnt it to ashes. According to the information, the victim and his family were not at their house at the time of the incident, and estimated costs to the damaged property could be not be established. The suspects will appear in the Lehurutshe Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, 17 December 2013.

The North West Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Zukiswa Mbombo has condemned the unruly behaviour of some members involved in the crime committed. “There is no way in which the police will allow people to take the law into their own hands. People must always report incidents to the police and leave the law to take its cause” said the General Mbombo.

Soweto violent looters released

Protea South protesters, who were arrested for public violence and looting since Thursday in Soweto, have been released on bail.

They spent the long weekend in holding cells. 25 people including four minors were arrested after a service delivery protest turned violent. They were all granted R800 bail.

The case has been postponed to next Monday for further investigations. The State is yet to quantify the damage caused during the protests.

There are concerns that the violence could continue. Police are in maintaining a close watch in the area.

Violent protests rise dramatically

Protest activity rose dramatically in the first eight months of this year, according to a report by the Multi-Level Government Initiative.

About 80% of the protests were violent.

The Multi-Level Government Initiative, which tracked protests between February 2007 and August 2012, released its protests barometer in Cape Town yesterday.

The research corroborates the findings of local governments and data collated by intelligence service Municipal IQ.

It shows that there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of protests and in the use of violence by protesters.

Western Cape felt most of the protesters’ wrath.

“Protest” is defined by the researchers as “any complaint or issue cited by protesters in reports, whether related to the delivery of municipal services or not, over which citizens decide to, and actually engage in, [sic] organised public protest activity”.

Findings included that:

Protest activity rose dramatically in the first eight months of 2012, with 226 protests;
If current trends continue, this year will have more than twice as many protests as last, and more than in 2010 and 2011 together;
Western Cape surpassed Gauteng as the province with the highest number of violent protests this year;
Before 2012, Western Cape recorded its highest protest activity during an election year;
Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng accounted for 56.98% of protests; and
Occupation and housing were the most cited issues, 303 in the six-year period. Poor service delivery was second, with 218 protests. Grievances related to broken promises and government officials ignoring protesters’ complaints have risen exponentially since 2010 but account for less than 10% of complaints.

This year , Western Cape shot past Gauteng as the province with the biggest number of violent protests.

The head of the research project, Professor Jaap de Visser, said the researchers had begun collecting information on a very complicated issue.

“Let us build up our knowledge about protests over a period of time.

“The government should put serious effort into analysing protest activity and use the information to improve its performance and engagement,” he said.

Riot in Boksburg: 49 arrested

Forty-nine people were arrested in Windmill Park, Boksburg, on Monday for public violence and malicious damage to property, Ekurhuleni metro police said.

Inspector Khobeli Mokheseng said the protesters, aged between 20 and 51, allegedly stoned a metro police vehicle and attacked two metro police officers who arrived at the scene first.

“When one of the officers got out of the vehicle to try and talk sense to them, one of them stole the car keys from the ignition.”

A man fled with the keys, while the rest of the protesters hurled stones at the vehicle.

The officer sustained slight injuries to his hand.

Residents of the Holomisa informal settlement barricaded roads with burning tyres and rocks on Monday morning. Barry Marais and Trichardt roads were closed to traffic.

It was not immediately clear what the cause of the protest was.

Mokheseng said on Monday afternoon that the protesters had dispersed.

Those arrested would be detained at the Dawn Park police station and were expected to appear in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court soon. -Sapa