Free State Police spokesperson, Motantsi Makhele, mentions that in addition to protesters barricading roads with burning tyres, a vehicle was torched and several tuck shops were looted in the process. Welkom represented the largest number of arrests effected for public violence, at 21. 

However, the vast majority of the damage occurred in Allanridge where a police station was vandalised; four shops owned by foreign nationals were viciously looted; and four vehicles were pelted with stones and damaged on the R30 road. Makhele says one of those vehicles was, in fact, torched. He says several arrests were made in connection with some of the aforementioned violence in Allanridge.

Authorities conducted investigations into the Allanridge violence which led them to the arrests of two men and two women. These suspects were found in possession of groceries allegedly stolen from the foreign-owned shops. These groceries have since been confiscated as evidence.

Makhele says the situation is now calmer. The N1 between Ventersburg and Kroonstad has been cleared of barricades and protesters have been dispersed. Welkom, Allanridge and Virgina are also quiet.

The organisation behind the Matjhabeng Shutdown movement has unequivocally distanced itself from this latest unrest. The Secretary of the Matjhabeng Community Foundation, Shima Mahlatsi, says they met with the Free State ANC’s Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) 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. The leadership of the Matjhabeng Community Foundation is said to have agreed to this and plead with residents for calm, pending further deliberations on the matter. Mahlatsi says despite this, residents said they are going ahead with their shutdown.

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.

The arrested group will appear before their local courthouses soon on varied charges.

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