East London woke to violent running battles at dawn between hundreds of township protesters and police as tensions over land and service delivery boiled over.
Tuesday saw seething protesters swearing they would not vote in next month’s general election unless they were given formal housing promised to them for decades, and living conditions in the townships were improved.
They also demanded title deeds and land for housing development be made available.
The protests erupted at about 3.30am in Nompumelelo near Beacon Bay and then spread to Ducats township, where rioters threw stones at traffic on the N6.
Some demonstrators alleged the police had acted with brutality and even used live ammunition, but there was little evidence of this.
In an expression of the jumpiness and fear which gripped the public, in the afternoon, East London residents raised the alarm that another protest fire was burning on the old road between Gonubie and Schafli Road near Meisieshalt. But the Dispatch checked and found this was no more than rubbish being burnt as part of a private clean-up initiative.
BCM mayor Xola Pakati dispatched a rapid response team to meet residents of the two townships to try and find solutions to the upheaval. He appealed for calm.
Police spokesperson Captain Mluleki Mbi said nine people between the ages of 17 and 45 had been arrested at Nompumelelo and Ducats and would be charged with public violence.
“Police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and [tear] gas to disperse the violent crowd. Police are monitoring the situation and will continue with this operation until calm is retained,” Mbi said.
Bonza Bay Road was littered with burning rubber and broken glass as public order policing officers swooped into Nompumelelo where they clashed with protesters.
When the Dispatch arrived at Nompumelelo on Tuesday morning, a police nyala and officers in bulletproof vests were running sorties into the deepest reaches of the township. They fired rubber bullets and teargas at about 400 protesters throwing rocks and bottles at them.
The Dispatch witnessed small groups of police entering homes in an effort to root out those who had pelted them with stones.
One woman, Ntombi Siganeko, told the Dispatch that police had shot teargas into her home without warning.
“I have three children, one year and two months, seven months and nine months, and a gogo who is 72 staying here,” she said in the doorway of her home, the unmistakable sting of teargas still in the air.
“They just shot straight into my house. My children were screaming and crying. I took them to neighbours. I want the police to be investigated for this.”
As the Dispatch team made its way to another home, a protester presented a gold-coloured bullet casing, claiming this had come from a police weapon.
At the home, a woman, identified as Nolubabalo Vali, was slumped over a bakkie. Residents claimed police had also shot teargas into her shack, and she had collapsed because she was asthmatic.
The woman was then bundled into the back of a car which took her to hospital.
A teacher the Dispatch encountered on another street said it was a disgrace that police acted with such force, since many children had to attend school.
Community leader Siyabonga Ngxanga said residents had been waiting 10 years for a new housing development to be rolled out, but others had been on housing waiting lists for decades.
“There is also no service delivery here. The shacks are all leaking and we are forced into making illegal electricity connections, which can cause people to die,” he said.
“The ward councillor [Makhaya Bopi] knows all these things, but he just ignores us. We are not going to vote for anyone until they give us new houses. We also will not stop with our protests until they listen to us.”
Another resident, Nobuhle Mzi, said her father had died last year after he slipped and fell at a public toilet block that had not been completed.
“We tell the ward councillor, but nothing ever happens.”
Outside Ducats township, tyres were burnt and stones flung on the N6, causing the traffic department to block the road to traffic. There were more clashes with police throughout the day.
By late afternoon, there was still a heavy police presence at both townships, but the situation seemed calm.
Bopi met with protesters on Tuesday. He told the Dispatch that housing issues were among their grievances.
“They are waiting to hear from the officials at the municipality. The last time there was a protest like this was 2017. What the residents want to know is, where they are going to be based. The municipality is aware of their grievances.”
In November 2017, about 500 demonstrators blocked the N2 and Bonza Bay Road with burning tyres, branches, logs, bricks and stones. calling for shacks to be electrified.BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said following service delivery protests in these areas in the past, project steering committees had been set up to deal with all the service delivery issues.“Preliminary findings reveal that the current service delivery protest are as a result of housing needs and the handing over of tittle deeds. The city has made tremendous progress in both areas with feasibility studies undertaken and alternative land parcels identified for Nompumelelo as the area has been found to be unsuitable for housing development,” he said.“The city is in the process of acquiring such parcels, and the latest protests seem to be due to misinformation being peddled on how that process is being handled.”Ngxanga said in previous meetings with city officials, two such parcels had been identified: one near Ducats and the other near Gonubie.johnh@dispatch.co.za..