37 held as protests shut down Kokstad
Shops and businesses in Kokstad closed for a second day after protests erupted in the KZN town led to the arrest of 37 people.
|||Durban – Shops and businesses in Kokstad closed for a second day on Tuesday after protests erupted in the KwaZulu-Natal town leading to the arrest of 37 people.
Details of the exact cause are not immediately known, but issues of service delivery as well as dissatisfaction over the nomination of African National Congress councillors has been touted.
Greater Kokstad Municipality spokesman Sabelo Ncwane said that municipal employees had been sent home because of the protests.
“The shops in town are all closed down in town after there was some violence,” he said.
He confirmed that a mob had been stopped by police from burning down the house of the municipality’s deputy mayor.
It is understood that some residents started protesting on Monday and wanted to hand over a memorandum to the department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) on Monday, but according to one resident the department’s official was then chased away.
Cogta spokesman Lennox Mabasso confirmed the incident in a statement released late Tuesday.
“Yesterday Cogta deployed a team of senior officials to receive a memorandum, however, on arrival two Cogta officials were chased away as protesters allegedly demanded someone from the Presidency,” he said.
It is understood that a number of protesters were arrested on Monday and that on Tuesday more protesters were arrested as they demanded the release of those arrested on Monday.
Members of the police’s Public Order Policing unit were deployed to the town in a bid to contain the violence.
Mabaso said: “Protesters stormed the Kokstad Municipality offices and burnt tyres and ordered staff and management out of their offices. Today they attempted to burn a local school and swift reaction by the police foiled the attempt.”
He said that Cogta MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube condemned the violence.
The Democratic Alliance also condemned the violence with its Sonke constituency head Francois Rodgers (CORR) saying that the protests had been caused by infighting within the ruling African National Congress.
“Kokstad residents took to the streets to voice their displeasure on the ANC councillor candidate for the upcoming Local Government Elections. The ANC infighting continues to halt services, destroys infrastructure and business in Kokstad and many parts of KwaZulu-Natal.”
He said it was the second day that the town had been brought to a standstill.
Comment was not immediately available from the police or the ANC.
African News Agency