Tikana halts road maintenance in Matatiele following violent protest
The protest action which saw the burning of government property in Matatiele last week has forced the department of transport to suspend the work of repairing roads, which was currently underway.
MEC Weziwe Tikana said: “The suspension of the service and the removal of the plant was taken following the violent and destructive action of some community members on July 14 2018. Three state vehicles were torched and other government property was vandalised.”
Tikana said a decision to suspend the services had to be taken to save more taxpayers’ money from going up in smoke.
“It is regrettable that we had to take such a decision, but we were left with no choice following last Tuesday’s appalling incident. Our decision is in the interest of protecting the equipment and machinery we had there, bought using taxpayers’ money, from the possibility of also going up in smoke as well,” said Tikana.
Tikana called on law enforcement agencies to bring those who set government property alight to book.