An ANC ward councillor and two residents arrested by police during a housing protest in Khayelitsha on Thursday were released after a few hours and warned to appear in the local magistrate’s court on Friday.
Ward 90 councillor Luvuyo Hebe was detained after about 1,000 S-Section residents went on the rampage on Thursday morning blockading roads, hurling stones at buses and municipal vehicles.
Two other people were detained with Hebe at the Lingelethu West police station.
Hebe’s arrest comes a day after the DA leader and Premier Helen Zille and mayor Patricia de Lille lodged intimidation charges against the ANC, its youth league and allies for threatening to make the city and the province ungovernable if the two leaders did not respond within a week to a string of demands.
Zille and De Lille alleged the ANC was behind violent service delivery protests in the province.
Police spokesperson André Traut said the residents had gathered in Bonga Drive, Khayelitsha, to stone passing vehicles.
“Three males, aged 29 and 33, were arrested on a charge of public violence,” Traut said.
He said police were monitoring the area for flare-ups.
Deputy mayor Ian Nielson’s spokesperson Priya Reddy said Hebe would face disciplinary action for participating in the illegal gathering.
Earlier in the day the residents had walked to the Nuwe Begin housing development in Blue Downs where they were demanding they be allocated vacant houses after discovering that people had allegedly been allocated housing illegally.
They were prevented from entering by police but marched back to Khayelitsha and started fires along Pama Road.
Protesters blocked Mew Way and traffic was diverted.
Four drivers and two commuters were injured when nine buses were stoned by the protesters.
One of the commuters was hit with a rock on the knee, another on the arm.
Golden Arrow Bus Services spokesperson Bronwen Dyke said the injured were taken to Harare Day Hospital and Khayelitsha Hospital.
The protest subsided at 8am as residents made their way to the local community hall for a meeting. Community leader Thando Mpengesi asked protesters not to damage property as police would fire at them.
After the break, protesters took to the street again and danced, sang and chanted, relatively peacefully until police arrived.
Police told Mpengesi to take “his” protesters and go home as the protest was illegal.
Protesters swore at police and sang louder before police fired teargas and rubber bullets at protesters who ran between the shacks.
Mpengesi said the residents had protested because they were “sick of living in bad conditions”.
Unemployed resident Miriam Qwayi, 59, said they had been promised housing for years.
“We are still waiting for houses. For 17 years I have stayed here.
“(Under) apartheid I understood why we had to be here, but this new government made promises to us and we are still waiting.
“My house is constantly wet during winter. Living in a shack is for animals not for humans,” Qwayi said.
Later, the protesters started more fires along Mew Way near TR-Section.
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