By Staff Reporter
21 June 2016
Tshwane Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa met with residents of Atteridgeville to call for calm following uprising caused by the announcement of Ms Thoko Didiza as the mayoral candidate for Tshwane.
Residents throughout Tshwane Townships including Hammanskraal went on a rampage after the name of Ms Didiza was announced as mayoral candidate for Tshwane.
Mayor Ramokgopa called on residents not to embark on disruptions in his name. He endorsed the name of Thoko Didiza as the mayoral candidate and encouraged Tshwane residents to follow suit.
He met with residents of Atteridgeville together with the ANC Gauteng Chairperson, Paul Mashatile and ANC NEC Member and Minister of Health, Dr Aron Motsoaledi.
After the meeting, Atteridgeville residents told Minister Motsoaledi that they are ANC members and that they are giving the ANC three days grace to come back to them with an answer on the Mayoral Candidate.
In Hammanskraal protestors blocked the N1 Polokwane with rocks and burnt a truck.
Minister for Defense and Military Veterans, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, speaking at the Security Briefing on Tshwane, said citizens should conduct their dissatisfactions in an orderly manner and not raise their grievances in a violent manner. She said the situation will be assessed on a daily basis and depending on the outcome, a decision may be taken whether to deploy the South African National Defense Force.
She said disruption of service is not acceptable and will not be allowed, “Pretoria is a Capital City and there is no way we can allow anarchists and hooligans disrupting services in the City”.
The City of Tshwane informed citizens of possible disruption of services due to the ongoing protest action plaguing certain areas of the city. City of Tshwane Communications Director, Mr Selby Bokaba, said some of the City staff members were reportedly been intimidated, attacked and some prevented from going to work.
“We are exploring various options of stabilizing the situation and of safeguarding our staff to enable them to render services unhindered.
“The law enforcement agencies have assured us of their commitment to protect the personnel and municipal assets in the face of intimidation and threats.
“They have also undertook to deal decisively and firmly with vandalism, thuggery, hooliganism and criminality that have characterized certain parts of the city in the past few days,” he said.
The City profusely apologizes for the inconvenience caused and undertook to restore normal services as speedily as possible.
