KC JOURNAL NO 30 JULY 2012 – Barometer of Resistance

05 January 2012

Nebo – Limpopo

Twenty-seven protesters appeared at the Nebo Magistrate’s Court for public violence and malicious damage to property.

Residents were protesting against water shortages in the area.

Botshabelo – Free State

Four people were arrested on the N8 for trying to block the road. The group threw stones and burnt tyres.

The group were unhappy ANC centenary marshals who were left out of theevent accreditation process.

08 January 2012

Clarens – Free State

Three people were arrested on charges of public violence. This followed service delivery protests, blockading of the road with rocks and burning tyres. Police and public vehicles were pelted with stones and damaged.

The people were reacting to the failure of the local municipality to respond to the memorandum of their demands on the agreed time.

09 January 2012

Nebo – Limpopo

Twenty-seven people arrested for public violence and malicious damage to property during a service delivery protest appeared in the Nebo Magistrate’s Court.

The group was protesting for service delivery in the area.

10 January 2012

Khayelitsha – Cape Town

About 100 people protested outside the newly built Khayelitsha District Hospital.

The residents were demanding jobs for local people and transparent recruitment processes. They claimed outsiders were getting jobs and threatened to block staff from entering the hospital.

13 January 2012

Bapong – North West

Fourteen people were arrested for public violence after stones were thrown at vehicles travelling on the N4 at the Modderspruit crossing. The chairperson of the Unemployed Peoples’ Forum, which was responsible for the demonstration died and another man injured.

People were demonstrating against the failure by the local mine to employ local residents.

16 January 2012

Khayelitsha – Cape

Town

A group of fifty protesters demonstrated outside the Khayelitsha District Hospital. This was an ongoing struggle by residents to be employed by the hospital. The demonstration was led by Khayalitsha Development Forum (KDF).

KDF handed a memorandum to hospital management demanding operations be suspended with immediate effect and that the process of filling posts be completely redone. The Forum also demanded the removal of the Chief Executive and Director on grounds that they misconstrued work.

17 January 2012

Cape Peninsula University of Technology – City Campus

Students clashed with the security guards at the city campus as a protest turned violent. Students were pepper-sprayed and one collapsed after inhaling it. She was rushed to hospital.

Students were demonstrating against high registration fee of R5, 000 claiming that students cannot afford it.

16 January 2012

Cato Crest – Durban

Violence erupted at the Cato Crest informal settlement after residents were ordered to vacate their homes to make way for new low-cost housing.

Residents claimed they were told to remove their goods because tractors would demolish the shacks.

23 January 2012

Hout Bay – Cape Town

Thousands of Capetonians marched along Chapman’s Peak Drive yesterday. More than 2,000 protesters joined the march.

The march was organised by the Civil Rights Action Group (Crag) against the R54-million toll plaza and luxury office to be built on national park land.

20 January 2012

Rustenburg

About 5,000 rock drill operators at the Impala Platinum mine in Rustenburg stopped working.

The work stoppage was related to salary grievances and benefits.

19 January 2012

Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, Queenstown, Matatiele and Mthatha

Teachers in the areas protested over issues that had been unresolved for several years.

Teachers were protesting against long hours and heavy workload. They claimed this was caused by the dismissal of temporary teachers.

23 January 2012

Some 300 Congolese nationals protested outside the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court as some of their countrymen appeared in court for public violence.

They were arrested after a series of clashes between expatriate supporters of Congolese President Joseph Kabila and opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.

23 January 2012

Luphisi – Mpumalanga and Kwa-Mashu

Luphisi residents blocked roads with burning tyres but there was no violence and arrests. In KwaMashu, residents also burnt tyres.

The protests were over poor ,service delivery

26 January 2012

Thokoza

Two Bangladeshis were admitted to Natalspruit Hospital after suffering severe burns form a petrol bomb that was thrown into their shop.

The community of the two Bangladeshis believed the incident to be a xenophobic attack.

26 January 2012

Roosenekal – Limpopo

Pupils at a school in Roosenekal boycotted classes since the beginning of the year claiming their teachers were asking female pupils for sex.

They claimed teachers showed very little interest in their education and teachers were not doing their work.

26 January 2012

Parys – Free State

In Tumahole, a group of people blocked roads with burning tyres and looted seven shops belonging to immigrant traders. A man was arrested and charged with malicious damage to property.

Outbreak of xenophobic attacks in Tumahole in Parys, Free State.

27 January

Rondebosch – Cape

Town

Protesters occupy the Rondebosch Common. They were sprayed with blue dye and arrested.

The protesters wanted to raise awareness about lack of housing, land, jobs and other issues affecting poor people in the city.

30 January

Engcobo

About 500 people barricaded Mgwali Road with stones and burning tyres. Three people were wounded with rubber bullet injuries and ten arrested for public violence and malicious damage to property.

The residents were protesting against lack of electricity and houses in the area.

30 January

University of KwaZulu

Natal

A number of students on the Edgewood Campus embarked on a protest and attempted to disrupt the registration process of students that was in progress.

The students were demanding that the School of Education admit eighteen students who were outside the cut-off point.

31 January

Blikkiesdorp

Residents set tyres alight and barricaded parts of Symphony Way.

Residents were protesting over inadequate housing in the area.

01 February

Pennyville

Angry Pennyville residents staged a demonstration outside Absa buildings in Johannesburg protesting against their eviction by the bank. People living in Absa-owned flats complex in Soweto had been served with an eviction notice for March.

Residents insisted they would not vacate their houses because they had paid their rentals consistently and in full. There was no reason for the bank to evict them.

02 February 2012

Rustenburg

Impala Platinum dismissed 13 000 employees, bringing to 17 200 those sacked since the start of a labour dispute almost two weeks ago. This follows dismissal of drill operators who initiated the action.

The dispute centres on retention bonuses awarded to only part of the workforce.

06 February 2012

Durban

About 300 protesters gathered at the Durban City Hall. The protesters were Umlazi residents who had been left homeless after the eThekwini municipality suspended a housing contract.

The protesters demanded reinstatement of the contract so that their promised houses could be built. They carried placards calling for the resignation of the municipal manager.

07 February 2012

Mangosuthu University of Technology

Students under the umbrella of the SRC embarked on a march. The SRC claimed that 700 students did not have accommodation for the year.

Students marched against shortage of residences. They also raised that transport fees had increased from R900 to R1 500 annually and that students with fee debts were not being allowed to register.

08 February 2012

Sonderwater

Twenty-five people were arrested for public violence and malicious damage to property. The charges against the group were subsequently withdrawn. They were part of a larger group of residents in extension 11 that barricaded roads and damaged police vehicles.

Residents took to the streets protesting against alleged corruption at the Tlokwe municipality.

10 February 2012

University of KwaZulu

Natal

Student protests which started at the Mangosuthu University of Technology in Umlazi spread to Durban University of Technology (DUT) where six people were arrested for public violence after three vehicles damaged and University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Students were mainly demanding accommodation and financial aid.

13 February 2012

Masoyi – Hazyview

A woman was killed and ten people were arrested during service delivery protests. The woman was killed after a truck accidentally reversed into her on a road barricaded by protesters. Protesters were arrested for public violence and destruction of property.

Residents were protesting for service delivery in the area.

14 February 2012

Fifty one service delivery protesters were arrested and charged with public violence, theft and malicious damage to property.

Ongoing service delivery protests by residents.

14 February 2012

University of Durban

Westville

Four students were arrested during a protest at the University of Durban-Westville. Students went on a rampage after they were informed about a court interdict against protests and disruptions at the university. They barricaded entrances to the university and police used water cannons to disperse the crowd. Three students were injured and another three were arrested for public violence.

Ongoing protests by students for accommodation and financial aid. Students also raised other issues of concern they wanted to be addressed by management.

17 February 2012

Johannesburg- CBD

Women and several men marched at the Bree street taxi rank in Johannesburg. The march was a response to harassment experienced by two young women wearing mini-skirts in the Noord Street taxi rank in December.

The march was a protest against harassment of women wearing miniskirts by taxi drivers in the Noord Street Taxi rank and highlighted the rights of women.

15 February 2012

Hout Bay – Cape Town

Protesters handcuffed themselves to scaffolding on the construction site of a toll booth at Chapman’s Peak drive.

The protest was part of ongoing demonstrations against the construction of the R54 million toll plaza.

15 February 2012

Bapong – North West

A truck was set alight in Bapong during a protest by residents. Some roads were barricaded with burning tyres. No injuries were reported and a case of malicious damage to property was opened. This was part of ongoing protest by residents since before August last year.

The residents were protesting against unemployment and the failure of local companies including Lonmin’s Platinum Mine to create jobs.

17 February 2012

Bapong – North West

Police arrested sixty-two people in connection with various crimes committed during service delivery protests in Bapong. Other arrests related to unlawful activities in the area. A local post office was burnt down.

This was an ongoing protest by residents, mainly youth protesting against unemployment. The protests had been going on since August last year.

17 February 2012

Rustenburg

South African riot police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon at hundreds of striking miners who went on the rampage at Impala Platinum’s Rustenburg plant. A man was killed after he was stripped naked and beaten during the demonstration.

This was part of the ongoing dispute with mine management which centred on retention bonuses awarded to only part of the workforce.

17 February 2012

Durban

About four hundred Congolese nationals protested at the Durban City Hall. They handed a memorandum addressed to the mayor claiming officials demand bribes of R7 000 or face arrest and deportation.

The protesters were protesting against difficulties they encounter at Home Affairs when trying to renew their permits.

21 February 2012

Montclair – Durban

Pupils of Khulangolwazi Special School vandalised the school in an attempt to oust their principal. They used stones and chairs to break windows and trashed offices.

The pupils wanted the the principal out of the school because she kept them in school until 2pm on Fridays while they wanted to be released at noon. They also claimed that school buses collected them late from school.

28 February 2012

Walter Sisulu University

of Technology – Mthatha

Twenty students were arrested after violence broke out at the University. They were arrested for public violence and damage to property. They blockaded roads with rubbish bins, burnt tyres and threw stones at the police.

Students were demanding passes even though they had failed their tests.

01 March

Luka – Rustenburg

Thirteen people were arrested after protesting youths blockaded roads. They were charged with public violence. Police also confiscated two cars carrying tyres.

Luka village residents were demanding to be employed in unfilled positions at the mine.

02 March 2012

Gilead – Limpopo

Five people were arrested for public violence during a protest over education in the area. They were part of a group that went on a rampage blocking the N11 and burnt tyres on the road.

The residents were protesting because their village did not have a school.

05 March 2012

Cape Town

Protesters burnt tyres and portable toilets, vandalising road signs and traffic lights forcing police to close down parts of Vanguard Drive. Police clashed with about 100 protesters, many in their early teens or younger.

It was not clear what triggered the protest. But onlookers said the protest was about the city cutting off electricity in the informal settlement.

05 March 2012

Grabouw- Western Cape

Four people were arrested for public violence after residents blocked roads and burnt tyres. The four were arrested when police found tyres and a petrol container in their bakkie.

The residents were claiming that the local school only catered for coloured learners. They demanded that a school be built for other learners of colour.

05 March 2012

Nyanga- Cape Town

Four high school pupils were arrested for public violence in Nyanga. They were part of a group of eighty pupils who gathered at Nelson Mandela High School.

The students were protesting against school fees.

12 March 2012

Villiersdorp

About eight hundred residents marched to municipal offices burning down the community hall and destroyed public facilities. Police used water cannons to disperse the crowd. Residents retaliated by throwing stones and bricks, damaging the post office and municipal offices.

Protesters wanted to speak to the municipal manager about delivery of services in the area and an opportunity to hand him a memorandum of demands.

14 March 2012

Theunissen – Free State

Police arrested sixty-two people when a service delivery protest turned violent. Residents broke windows of an old clinic and a community hall. They also threw stones at the municipal building and the offices of the African National Congress.

The residents were protesting about water shortages in the area.

19 March

Ratanda

Residents embarked on a violent service delivery protest. The residents looted municipal buildings and shops and stole computers. A municipal building, councillors’ homes, a primary school and shops of immigrants were set alight.

The rampage was sparked by exorbitant bills and the municipality wanted them to pay half of the outstanding amounts before services could be reconnected.

20 March 2012

Ratanda

Hundreds of residents of Ratanda in Heidelberg gathered on the streets to protest over service delivery. The march followed looting of shops owned by foreign nationals. Also two houses owned by ward councillors and municipal office were torched. Forty-eight people were arrested for public violence.

The ransacking and stealing from the traders was sparked by service delivery protests.

27 March

Kya Sand

Kya Sand residents of the informal settlement blockaded Malibongwe Drive by burning tyres.

Residents were protesting against lack of houses, no electricity, transport for schoolchildren and lack of a bridge over a river that divides the area. They had been waiting for twelve years for basic services.

02 April 2012

Msunduzi –

Pietermaritzburg

Members of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union blocked traffic in the city centre demanding to speak to the municipal manager. The protest was triggered after a worker in the electricity department suffered severe electrical shock.

The workers raised issues of safety, failure to fill vacant positions and restructuring of the municipality.

03 April 2012

Pietermaritzburg

SA Municipal Workers’ Union members demonstrated outside the city hall. They parked vehicles belonging to the department on lanes outside the city hall, blocking and disrupting traffic.

This was an ongoing protest by workers about safety concerns, failure to fill vacant positions and restructuring of the municipality.

10 April 2012

Cape Town

Senior Black Citizens marched to the Civic Centre against the neglect and being disregarded by the City of Cape Town and the government.

The senior citizens demanded free trains, increase in pension grants, old age homes and use of civic amenities such as the Good Hope Centre.

16 April 2012

University of KwaZulu-Natal – Edgewood Campus

Edgewood students barricaded the main entrance protesting against delays by the service provider to pay allowances due to them into their bank accounts.

Students submitted a memorandum demanding:

1. Disbandment of the ESRC;

2. Meal allowance not paid on Saturday;

3. Accommodation for students that are illegally staying in residences;

4. Travelling allowance during teaching practice, and

5. No financial exclusions.

30 April 2012

Matoporong – Free State

The Reddersburg’s municipal building was set alight during a service delivery protest. Protesters threw stones at the building, library and at a supermarket.

The protesters were angry about an unsatisfactory response to a memorandum handed to the Kopanong local municipality three weeks prior.

03 May 2012

Osizweni – Newcastle

Pupils protested over the principal’s return at Siyabonga High School in Osizweni. The chaos started after the school principal reported for work despite being on suspension for an alleged attack.

Pupils from nearby Xolani and Thembalentsha High Schools also joined Siyabonga pupils in their protest against the return to school of the principal.

03 May 2012

Macassar

A race row erupted at Marvin Park Primary School forcing black learners, backed by their parents, to boycott classes.

Angry parents pulled the pupils out of their classrooms. They are demanding that their kids be given a school of their own.

03 May 2012

Vredefort – Free State

A group of 2000 residents started protesting, and three foreign-owned shops were damaged by fire. Attempts to set alight a municipal building in Mokwallo earlier in the week failed, but protesters broke most of the windows.

Mokwallo residents blocked roads with burning tyres and stones protesting against lack of electricity and water supplies.

04 May 2012

Mbumbulu – Umlazi

In Khulabebuka High School, Maths and Science lessons for matric pupils were put to a halt because three teachers of the subjects were kicked off the school premises by parents. The parents claimed that the teachers hurled racial insults at their Indian principal.

According to the parents, they ordered the teachers out of the school in a bid to restore order. They claimed that they had been unsuccessful in persuading the Provincial Department to employ substitute teachers.

07 May 2012

Lillydale

-Bushbuckridge

Residents went on a rampage burning municipal offices and a Caterpillar grader.

The residents were demonstrating their dissatisfaction over municipal water which was unfit for human consumption.

08 May 2012

Delft – Cape Town

About one hundred protesters burnt tyres and portable toilets during a service delivery protest. Residents from a temporary residential area overturned bins on Symphony Way.

Residents were demanding houses and security in the area.

08 May 2012

Lomanyaneng – North

West

Residents of the area protested for service delivery that was apparently promised four years ago.

They protested for service delivery and lobbying to have ward councillors in Ward 27 and 31 removed.

09 May 2012

University of

Witwatersrand

Wits students embarked on a meal boycott campaign after Royal Mnandi catering company dismissed seventeen of its workers. The workers were dismissed for merely refusing to move to other dining halls outside of campus due to lack of consultation and additional financial burden they will incur as a result of relocation.

Wits students have undertaken the boycott campaign in support of seventeen dismissed dining hall workers. The student boycott campaign has seen Royal Mnandi lose thousands in profits

09 May 2012

Sir Lowry’s Pass

Residents protested for service delivery, throwing petrol bombs at the police station and vehicles.

Residents protested over service delivery, burning tyres and other items.

10 May 2012

Mangaung metro’s office

in Bloemfontein

Members of SA Municipal Workers’ Union protested against Mangaung Municipality. Municipality officials regarded the action as unprotected and illegal.

Workers were demanding placements onto the new metro structure after the Mangaung Local Municipality became a Metro after the local government elections in May 2011.

11 May 2012

Durban

Workers of Transnet Africa protested. The situation was closely monitored by the police. Management of the company regarded the action as work stoppage.

The demands of workers included provident fund, all drivers to get a salary of R10 000, and reinstatement of sacked and suspended drivers with immediate effect.

16 May 2012

Braamfontein,

Johannesburg

Post office workers under Communication Workers Union marched against the SA Post Office. The union view the integration of Speed Courier Service into Courier Freight as outsourcing of one of the core functions of the SA Post Office, thus compromising service delivery.

The union demand that integration of Speed Courier Service into Courier Freight be halted. The union is also accusing the employer of reneging on the 2005 Agreement between CWU and the SA Post Office to convert labour broker workers to permanent positions in the company.

17 May 2012

Selobelo – Carolina

A municipal office and a library were set alight and partially burned down during a service delivery protest. Three police vehicles and six water tankers were also damaged. Four shops belonging to immigrant traders were also looted.

Residents were protesting about service delivery in the area.

17 May 2012

Durban

Taxi drivers staged a protest in Durban against Metro Police. All taxis that were operating were forced to stop and several taxis were dented by rocks and knob-kerries and windows smashed.

Taxi drivers complained that metro police officers were targeting them when issuing traffic fines. They also claimed that police demand bribes to avoid arresting them. Some drivers also demanded that ticket fines be written in Zulu.

18 May 2012

Durban

Hundreds of taxi drivers gathered in the city centre as part of their ongoing strike against eThekwini metro police. There was a stand off between the police and striking drivers.

The drivers claimed the metro police were unfairly targeting them.