The manner in which police have been using teargas during ongoing protest action in East London, has come under fire after several young children had to be treated in hospital.
Protests over land, housing and service delivery continued for a second day in Nompumelelo township on Wednesday. Running battles between police and protesters also occurred at Ducats township on the N6.
Police have fired rubber bullets and teargas at protesters, who in turn have hurled rocks and bottles at them. In some instances, police have fired teargas into properties where they believed protesters were hiding.
In the past two days, children, some younger than a year, have been teargassed during police operations.
On Tuesday, seven-month-old Kungentando Gadini, Alunamda Mcako, 11 months, one-year-old Sihlangule Siganeko, and Ntsika Siganeko, 7, were rushed to Frere Hospital after inhaling the gas and choking.
Their grandmother with whom the children live, Nongenile Siganeko, 79, said shortly after 10am a teargas cannister was fired onto her property, and the children started crying and coughing badly before “collapsing to the floor like flies”.
“I was also struggling to breathe but I was more worried about the children so I picked up a bucket of water and doused them.”
One of the fathers of the children, Xolile Siganeko, 47, said he and a friend, Xolile Sondle, 34, who is Kungentando’s father, broke a window of the home so everyone could get out.Nompendulo Gadini, 29, said she had taken the children to hospital with the help of neighbours.“The children were vomiting non-stop while others were struggling to regain consciousness. The doctor then observed them and said they were going to be fine.”Alunamda’s mother, Siphosethu Mcako, said her daughter had coughed throughout Tuesday night. Another young victim was nine-year-old Indiphile Msawuli. The gas had caused his face to swell up and his nose to bleed. His mother, Awongile Msawuli, 37, said she had to buy medicine for her son.“As you can see his face has been badly eaten by the gas and his eyes are still red. I [have] just returned from the pharmacy. He is better since I gave him medicine for allergy as well as applying ointment to his face.”
A young Grade 4 pupil said that he had been playing with other children when his eyes became itchy. “My face was extremely hot and I started coughing and I started drinking water.” He added that this had not helped at all.
The protest erupted at Nompumelelo Township at 3.30 am on Tuesday before quickly spreading to Ducats where stone-throwing residents brought traffic to a standstill on the N6.
Masimanyane Women's Support group director Lesley-Ann Foster called on police to discharge teargas responsibly.
"Both police and communities need to be careful. More caution is needed to be practised. Police need to be careful about discharging teargas near built-up residential areas,” she said.
“These things could be avoided if service delivery was offered. I am shocked about levels of garbage that are not removed in areas like Buffalo Flats, [with] rubbish piling up waist high. These violent clashes stem from lack of service delivery.”
The turmoil in Nompumelelo created problems for workers and schoolchildren as they were trapped inside the township. Nxarhuni Clinic nurse Vuyokazi Sigaji said she could not report for duty on Tuesday and had to smuggle herself out of the township on Wednesday in order to get to work.“This morning I woke up very early and observed and saw that they were still mobilising others and made a quick dash without taking a shower.”Sigaji said she showered at a nurses' residence at the clinic. She said her 10-year-old son was not able to go to school.Police spokesperson Captain Hazel Mqala said 16 people had been arrested for public violence, 13 released on bail and three were kept in detention due to having no identity documents.The 16 appeared at the East London magistrate's court on Wednesday.“There was one incident of a lady who was shot in the face by a rubber round,” Mqala said.“We only received a WhatsApp picture. No case has been opened yet.“Then a case of common assault was opened when a teargas canister landed at the front door of a house. A baby and a young boy were taken to hospital for treatment.“No deaths have been reported.”..