Smoke is pouring from the blackened roof of the Transriviere Community Hall in Alicedale and an SABC journalist is nursing wounds from rubber bullets after an angry crowd set fire to the building less than an hour ago.
Smoke is pouring from the blackened roof of the Transriviere Community Hall in Alicedale and an SABC journalist is nursing wounds from rubber bullets after an angry crowd set fire to the building less than an hour ago.
And Makana's acting municipal manager Mandisi Planga is currently in the police station making a statement, after the crowd slit his tyres and smashed all the windows of his car.
Speaking from the centre of the action at 1.30pm on Monday 23 March, Grocott's Mail reporter Anele Mjekula said, "At the moment there are public order police officers standing around the Transriviere Community Hall between Nomzwakayi Clinic and Alicedale Public Library.
"There's smoke pouring from the roof and you can't get beyond the entrance because it's full of smoke from a pile of tyres burning there."
Outside the hall, burning barricades made of burning chairs, rocks and branches blocked the road.
"People are afraid the fire might spread to the library," said Mjekula.
He said no one was sure when the fire engine would come, or where it would come from. It was unclear whether They would have to be brought from Grahamstown.
Alicedale falls within Makana Municipality and is served by the municipality's fire department.
Community members ran when police fired rubber bullets into the crowd.
SABC radio reporter Mcebisi Ngqina, who was nursing a bleeding hand after being struck by at least one bullet, claimed the shooting was unprovoked.
"People were just standing there," Ngqina told Grocott's Mail.
On Friday a week of protests about insufficient teachers at Hendrik Kanise Combined School in Alicedale was resolved on Thursday by the promise that a teacher would be brought.
However, on Friday 20 March, fresh protests erupted over service-delivery problems.
Public Order police were called in after crowd of around 300 people erected burning barricades on the main street and toyi-toyied to the municipal offices. They called for Makana Mayor Zamuxolo Peter to come and address them.
No damage to property was reported on Friday. After an assurance that the Mayor would address them today, the crowd returned to their homes.
Eyewitnesses say the Mayor's failure to arrive at the venue today inflamed the crowd.
"They didn't want to hear anyone but the Mayor," an eyewitness said.
Planga, along with other Makana officials was sent to address the residents. Shortly after 2pm today he confirmed he was in the Alicedale police station making a statement after protesters slit the tyres of his vehicle and smashed all the window glass.
