A video of police officers and protesters has been shared on social media platforms. 

A resident and one of the protesters who appear in the video, Brown Zongolwa, told OFM News that residents peacefully protested over service delivery issues. 

She says residents of Riebeeckstad in Welkom have been struggling with water supply since December 2022. According to the local newspaper Vista, the taps in Riebeeckstad have been dry for five weeks. 

Zongolwa alleged things got out of hand when an elderly woman was manhandled by the police and she tried to intervene.

“What happened was one of the policewomen was roughly taking an elderly lady out of the street. I went straight and I asked what was going on. That policewoman handled me roughly too. After that, white people were told to move away from where we were standing so that they could take out a stun grenade to scare us. People were just standing there, nobody was fighting, nobody was throwing stones or anything,” Zongolwa said.

Meanwhile, the police media liaison in the Free State, Maselela Langa, said the police went to Riebeeckstad and found about 40 residents disrupted traffic with stones that blocked the road. He explained the residents were expressing their frustrations over water issues and after being called to the scene, the police used a stun grenade to disperse the crowd. 

Langa added that police have since opened a case of public violence. No injuries were reported and no one was arrested. 

Municipal spokesperson, Tshidiso Tlali, admitted to OFM News that the municipality has been facing water supply challenges, especially in high-lying places such as Riebeeckstad, Hennenman, Ventersburg, and other surrounding areas in Thabong. He said old infrastructure has been the major issue, including load-shedding which has been disrupting the water supply plant. 

Tlali said they have been communicating with residents and water tankers have also been supplied.  

Zongolwa disputed that residents are provided with water tankers and said that they have been getting water from other areas in Welkom where there is water. Zongolwa further added that residents of Riebeeckstad are paying a massive amount of money for services and they don’t expect to have infrastructure challenges, which the municipality is complaining about.

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OFM News