R’fontein municipality condemns violent protest
'Destruction and burning of public facilities unacceptable'.
Councillor Mzi Khumalo, speaker of the Randfontein Municipality Council have issued the following statement regarding the violent protest and looting of foreign owned businesses last week.
“The Local Municipality condemns the violent protest that ensued in the early hours of Wednesday, which subsequently led to the destruction of both private and public property. The municipality note this as acts of criminality disguised as “service delivery” protests.
“Destruction and burning of public facilities meant to directly deliver much needed services to our community is highly unacceptable and should be condemned by everyone. We applaud members of our community who have initiated the ‘Call For Action’ programme, which is strongly against the recent criminality conducted by what we like to call hooligans, indeed this should not be done in their name. We further call all members of the Randfontein community to take up the call and act against any criminality in our neighborhoods disguised as service delivery concerns.
“We have also noted that a number of our community members have since the early hours of Thursday (5 February), started to take active action by cleaning up and removing all rubble on our streets. This goes a long away in achieving a responsible citizenry as every responsible peace loving citizen will work towards restoration of calm and order in the entire Randfontein area.
“We have also noted some criminal elements that have taken advantage of the situation and started looting our local foreign owned business. We recognize the fact that peace loving members of our community are highly incensed by this hooliganism by a few criminals and we thus call any member of our community to report such elements to our law enforcement agencies, we also calling the police to swiftly act and bring to book all those responsible.
“We note with concern that foreign traders in Mohlakeng have temporarily, upon consultation decided to retreat out of the area till normality is fully restored, we therefore call on our communities to work together to ensure that peace and stability remain and are forever sustained.
“In conclusion the Randfontein Local Municipality would like to reiterate its commitment in bringing better services to our community, we are also committed in resolving any of our community concerns peacefully without destruction of property, infringement of people’s rights and violence.”
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