President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in the Waterberg against the backdrop of unrest in Mookgophong and political tensions in Mokopane.
In Mookgophong on Monday 25 November, police sources confirmed damage to downtown property following protest action by about 400 residents.
The police sources confirmed that the unrest was triggered by the stabbing to death of an unidentified male person at a local tavern.
A suspect was subsequently arrested.
A group of protesters, according to the police sources, marched from the local township into town, and then proceeded to the police station, demanding that the suspect be released into the
custody of the protestors.
Police sources said they impressed on the protesters to allow justice to take its course.
“While transporting the suspect from the court back to police station holding cells, some among the protesters hurled petrol bombs at the police vehicle,” the source explained.
Members of the Public Order Policing unit were brought in as back-up, during a day characterised by sporadic incidents of public disturbances, among these the brief blockade of the N1 between
Polokwane and Pretoria.
The local religious movement confirmed the unrest in the area, and confirmed that the leadership was working on ways to help normalise the situation.
The church leaders were locked in a long meeting at the time of going to print.
Uneasy calm has since returned to Mookgophong.
In Mokopane the Mogalakwena Municipality was placed under administration by the Limpopo provincial government, against a backdrop of ongoing threats of a “total shutdown” by residents.
President Ramaphosa has been on a whistle-stop tour of parts of the Lephalale area on Tuesday.
— The BEAT
