“On Freedom Day in a democratic South Africa, we were shot at and hunted down by police officers for protesting unarmed and in a non-violent way.” These were the words of one of the protesters from Ward 19 who marched up to the N1 between Nirvana and Ivydale and proceeded to block the roads in an attempt to stop economic activity as they felt that they had been excluded.
Westenburg Station Commander Lt Col Maimele Pilusa confirmed that protestors had blocked the N1 on 27 April and that the Public Order Policing Unit (POPS) used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, but added that there is no way to know if anyone was shot until a case was opened.
“Therefore, our assumption is that no one was shot,” he told Polokwane Observer. The man, who preferred to remain anonymous, says the decision to block the N1 came after days of protesting at various points within the ward but not getting engagements from those they were seeking assistance from. He says they had no intention of damaging any property or to cause violence and were unarmed.
“When the police came, we understood that they were just fulfilling their duty. They approached us to try and negotiate and we complied. Our only demand was that they call the councillor and the mayor to come and address us. The officer in charge stepped aside to make a call to which he said they were both unavailable but that he would continue to try. The last call he made was to the speaker or the mayor just before a directive was given to shoot.”
He says shortly thereafter, tear gas was used in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
“Normally you would expect that the officers would shoot to disperse the crowd and let them run away but these officers started hunting us down after we ran into the nearby bushes. Anyone who was taking videos was being harassed, threatened to be arrested and forced to delete the visuals. Among those who were shot at, were two children around the ages of 12 years.” The protests started on Monday, 26 April when the grouped blocked off the intersection between Matlala road and Ben Harris Street in Westenburg; on Tuesday they blocked the N1 and on Wednesday a community meeting was held at the Westenburg Community Hall between the community and municipal officials.
“No substantial information was given to us by the municipal officials, which led to the community walking out of the meeting and protesting in the streets again. The municipal manager along with our councillor were present but unable to give us any concrete answers.”
He says that they do have intentions of opening cases against the police but were waiting for matters to calm down and for those who were shot at to heal. “All we want is engagement with the ward councillor and the mayor, so they can show us how they are planning on uplifting our community”. Municipal Spokesperson Thipa Selala says engagements with the community representatives are ongoing in order for the municipality to understand their frustration and working towards resolving these.
“The next meeting has been scheduled for later this week.” Polokwane Observer’s efforts to get a hold of ward councillor Hafiz Shaikh were unsuccessful.
