A ward councillor arrested with 35 Alicedale residents yesterday for public violence was among a jubilant crowd singing and dancing behind the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court today, Tuesday 24 March.
A ward councillor arrested with 35 Alicedale residents yesterday for public violence was among a jubilant crowd singing and dancing behind the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court today, Tuesday 24 March.
The 35 were arrested following a demonstration on Monday 23 March during which riot police fired rubber bullets after protesters set fire to the local community hall.
Protesters expressed anger at the fact that Makana Mayor Zamuxolo Peter had failed to come and address them.
Instead, acting municipal manager Mandisi Planga was dispatched to speak to the crowd.
When Grocott's Mail spoke to him yesterday afternoon, he was making a statement in the Alicedale Police Station after his car was trashed.
His windows were smashed and his tyres slit.
Four of the 36 protesters arrested on Monday remained in custody while their co-accused were released on free bail.
The four men who were kept in custody overnight pending their bail applications tomorrow could not be released on warning because they had previously been convicted of schedule five offences.
State prosecutor Nevadia Adriaan said the state would not oppose bail for any of the four men.
Scores of Alicedale residents had come to Grahamstown to support the arrested protesters when they appeared in court. The large crowd could not enter the packed court room and had to representatives to sit inside the court room.
The Alicedale residents spent most of the day in court as every one of the 36 had to disclose previous convictions and/or pending cases against them, and declare whether they were out on bail or on warning on any of them.
Ward 14 councillor Ernest Louw appeared together with the protesters and indicated that he had no previous convictions or pending cases.
The four men objected to being kept in the Waainek prison, citing gang activity as a threat to their safety and requested to be kept in the police cells overnight.
The state did not object and the magistrate ordered that they be kept in the police cells.
They will formally apply for bail in the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court tomorrow, 25 March.
The other protesters were released on warning and are due to appear in the Alicedale Magistrate's Court on 30 April.
Councillors and municipal officials welcomed the protesters behind the magistrate's court after they were released together with Louw today.
A week of protests about insufficient teachers at Hendrik Kanise Combined School in Alicedale was resolved on Thursday 19 March with 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 on Monday 23 March,, the crowd returned to their homes.
However, the Mayor's failure to arrive at the venue on Monday inflamed the crowd.
"They didn't want to hear anyone but the Mayor," an eyewitness said.
