Free State Emergency Services tell OFM News they have received alerts of protesters barricading the N1 between Ventersburg and Kroonstad with burning tyres. As a result traffic on that road is being diverted through the R34 between Kroonstad and Welkom. 

With regards to Welkom, it appears unrest is flaring up in pockets. According to community social media pages, the protest at this stage is concentrated in Putswatsene under Thabong and the Bronville townships. In the latter area, it is reported that residents are pelting passing vehicles with rocks. Free State police are yet to confirm the current status of the situation.

The unrest comes after the Free State ANC’s interim provincial committee (IPC) met with the leadership of the Matjhabeng Community Foundation on 26 June to plead with the movement to put their planned shutdown on hold, whilst they attend to their list of grievances on a political level. 

Whilst the leadership of the Matjhabeng Community Foundation has agreed to this, and called on all residents falling under the local municipality to stay calm, it now appears this plea is being ignored by some on the ground and they are proceeding with protest action regardless.

IPC spokesperson, Oupa Khoabane, says in a statement the committee views the grievances raised pertaining to service delivery constraints in “a serious light and see them as genuine”. The IPC requests that the community of Matjhabeng work alongside the ANC and the municipality in resolving these challenges. In the meantime, they call on residents to remain calm whilst these issues are being resolved and ironed out.

The community is said to want Matjhabeng Mayor Nkosinjani Speelman to vacate office owing to the many service delivery failures at the municipality. The Matjhabeng Community Foundation previously stated that Speelman has failed to resolve these challenges adequately by not holding the members of mayoral committees (MMCs) that he appointed, accountable for their failure in running their respective divisions optimally.

Speelman is no stranger to controversy. In 2020, he was suspended by the African National Congress’ (ANC) Free State disciplinary committee after a video of him making use of racial slurs when referring to the coloured community in Bronville, surfaced on social media.

This was in an address to members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) who were deployed to the area to enforce Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. The committee slapped him with an 18-month ban from party activities. This decision was later eased by the national disciplinary appeals committee.

OFM News