This as six people were nabbed for public violence on Monday 14 June, following reports of protesters pelting stones at passing vehicles on the N3. Free State police spokesperson, Motantsi Makhele, tells OFM News the situation in the area specifically in Intabazwe, remains tense but police are on the ground in Harrismith itself and on the affected national roads. None of the national roads - N3 and N5 - have been closed.

The unrest in Harrismith is continuing since last week with residents in the area calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the lack of service delivery in the cash-strapped Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipality. The stone-throwing comes less than a month after a 35-year-old truck driver died in a car accident near Harrismith after the truck he was in was pelted with a stone by protesters and he veered off the N5 road. It is unknown at this stage if any vehicles have been seriously damaged on the N3 highway this time around.

Regarding the tragic N5 accident, Makhele said the 35-year-old man who hails from Clanwilliam in the Western Cape was coming from the direction of Durban on Wednesday night 26 May when the incident occurred. An eyewitness informed police that he saw the unnamed driver passing by the Makgolokweng township turnoff where people were standing by. One of them – believed to be a protester - then threw a stone at the truck, resulting in the 35-year-old man losing control of the vehicle.

“The driver drove into the veld where the truck hit an embankment and caught fire. It is alleged by the police, who arrived first at the scene and found a Scania Truck with a trailer which was burning in the veld. The police could not see the driver until after the fire has subsided, then they saw his body on the passenger seat of the truck, burned to death,” explains Makhele.

A Maluti bus was also thrown with stones by demonstrators in the same area on the same night.

The two national roads are very busy roads, linking the eastern Free State and Gauteng with KwaZulu-Natal.

OFM News