Service delivery protests erupt

Police and hundreds of residents clashed violently in Masiphumelele near Fish Hoek on Thursday morning, leaving a trail of rubber bullet casings and burning rubble in their wake.

Police believe the protest was sparked by residents' anger over poor service delivery.

About 300 residents stormed up Tambo Road just after 8am on Thursday, prompting 10 police officers to race towards the crowd firing rubber bullets to disperse them.

Screaming, the residents scattered in all directions, some ducking between houses, before reconvening further down the road and moving up towards police again.

For a second time, police opened fire and residents again fled. Some sought refuge behind a canopy as rubber bullets flew past them.

By 9am on Thursday, the group of residents had again gathered at the bottom of Tambo Road, while clusters of onlookers stood further up the road watching the protesters and police as they tried to see what would happen next.

Children in school uniforms were among those milling in the street. Some residents told the Cape Argus they were afraid to send their children to school in the midst of a riot.

Burning rubble and debris littered the street alongside spent rubber bullet casings.

At least one man was arrested but, at the time of going to press, it was not clear what charges would be laid against him.

It was also not clear whether anyone had been injured during the morning's running battles.
There were unconfirmed reports that protesters had stoned private cars entering the area much earlier this morning. Fifteen police vehicles, as well as a fire and rescue services vehicle, were parked in Tambo Road.

Thursday's protest apparently revolved around service delivery, said Inspector Nkosikho Mzuku, a police spokesman at the scene.

In the past, protests at Masiphumelele were frequently over a housing development.

Ever since the development, backed by foreign donors, was proposed, various groups of residents have clashed over the plan and its proposed site, an area formerly suggested as school premises.

The organisation, Amakhaya Ngoku, made up of long-time residents of informal housing at Masiphumelele, led the development initiative, but people who arrived later and erected shacks on the school premises opposed the move, often with violent protests.

Earlier this week, backyard dwellers in the township demonstrated, demanding that they be allowed to erect shacks on the site. This protest took place just two weeks after the previous occupiers had agreed to vacate the site following negotiations with the MEC for Housing, Bonginkosi Madikizela.

- Cape Argus