Angry protesters burn down voting stations
Protesters angry at being left without electricity for the past few days have burnt down two voting tents in Siyaya, Freedom Park.
|||Johannesburg - As voters geared up to cast their ballots on Wednesday, angry protesters burnt down two voting tents in Siyaya, Freedom Park, near Eldorado Park on Monday night.
The youths were frustrated at being left without electricity for the past few days.
Portable toilets were also burnt down and chairs and tables were stolen.
Siyaya residents claim there are problems with electricity transformers because people tamper with them, which results in power cuts.
The problem has now intensified so that the area has been without power for four or five days.
On Monday City Power officials were in the area trying to fix the problem.
Voting district co-ordinator in Siyaya’s ward 119, Master Makola, said some young people gathered on the N12 to disrupt traffic.
Later, police officers dispersed them with tear gas. They then burnt down one tented voting station, Makola said.
“They burnt it because they were angry and wanted electricity. From there, they went to Ward 24 and burnt another one,” he said.
An elderly woman who lives nearby said she heard a large group of people singing and chanting, approaching from Siyaya.
“They started at a nearby centre and pulled two toilets down which they then burnt. They made their way to the voting station and burnt it. There were two portable toilets here too and they burnt them too while some took some of the chairs. Police arrived and fired rubber bullets at them,” she said.
Ward councillor Willie Dhlamini said the councillor of Ward 119 in Siyaya was dead so the protesters had nowhere to turn.
Mbusiyelo Dokolwana was gunned down outside his home in February. He was replaced by a proportional representation councillor who does not live in the area.
He said the IEC would replace at least one of the voting tents.
botho.molosankwe@inl.co.za
anna.cox@inl.co.za
karishma.dipa@inl.co.za
louise.flanagan@inl.co.za
Elections Bureau