Update: Community holds mayor hostage in Ditsobotla municipal building

By 10.30pm on Wednesday night, it seemed that the mayor of the Ditsobotla Local Municipality was still being held hostage by community members who stormed the municipal offices and set fire to a portion of the building.

News24 spoke to municipal spokesperson Pius Batsile, who reportedly said the mayor had not indicated that he felt threatened.

Batsile shed light on how mayor Daniel Buthelezi came to be held hostage, saying that while the community had had an appointment with the mayor at 2pm, the mayor was delayed. It was then that the community “demanded” that he address them and stop the meeting he was having, Batsile reportedly said.

Batsile said while the community did not appear to be armed, they were angry and swearing as the mayor led them to his office.

A tactical team is reportedly on the scene and police are monitoring the situation.

Batsile further stated that the community’s gripe was believed to have been regarding the Integrated Development Plan and said their ward had been excluded, yet Batsile said that the plan had not yet been finalised as the municipality was “still consulting communities”.

Just as African News Agency had earlier reported that about 40 community members had been thought to have stormed the municipal offices, Batsile also reportedly said there were about 35 people.

Earlier on Wednesday evening:

The mayor of Ditsobotla local municipality Daniel Buthelezi is being held hostage and municipal building torched on Wednesday evening, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said.

“The DA calls on community protesters to immediately cease violence and criminal activity, and restore calm, in the face of serious service delivery protests this evening that have escalated to a hostage situation at the municipality,” said
Jacqueline Theologo, DA constituency head in Ditsobotla.

Theologo, who was at the scene, said about 40 community members from Phola have taken mayor Buthelezi hostage.

“The group threatened to set themselves alight, out of sheer desperation for their concerns to be heard. They had a long list of grievances and complaints about poor service delivery in Ditsobotla,” she said.

She said the hostage situation was sheer lawless behaviour in a democratic society, and must be condemned.

“We understand that people are fed-up with the bad service they receive from the ANC government, and across the North West the ANC has utterly failed the people, but violence and hostage situations will never solve service delivery breakdowns – only voting out a failing government can do so.”

– African News Agency (ANA)

Earlier

Police have reportedly confirmed that the mayor of the Ditsobotla Local Municipality in Lichtenburg, North West province, is being held hostage by community members in the municipal building and that a section of the building had been set alight.

This, after a group of community members stormed the building.

According to the report by News24, a hostage negotiator was on the scene and police were also “monitoring the situation”.

TimesLIVE further reported that the fire in parts of the municipal offices had been extinguished.

Jacqueline Theologo of the DA reportedly told TimesLIVE that the community had stormed the municipal offices on Wednesday afternoon and had allegedly threatened to set themselves alight in a desperate bid for their concerns to be heard.

Theologo reportedly said that service delivery was in a “terrible state” in the area.

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