Thirty-two people, including nine woman, were arrested by Lichtenburg police late last night after Ditsobotla Local Municipality
mayor, Daniel Buthelezi, was allegedly held hostage by a group of protesting community members. A group of about 35 people stormed into a meeting at the municipal offices and demanded Buthelezi address them. They were unhappy that the Ward was not included in the Integrated Development Plan
“The DA calls on community protesters to immediately cease violence and criminal activity, and restore calm, in the face of serious service delivery protests this evening that has escalated to a hostage situation at the municipality,” said Jacqueline Theologo, DA Constituency Head in Ditsobotla.
Theologo who was at the scene said about 40 community members from Phola have taken mayor Buthelezi hostage.
“The group threatened to set themselves alight, out of sheer desperation for their concerns to be heard. They had a long list of grievances and complaints about poor service delivery in Ditsobotla,” she said.
She said the hostage situation was sheer lawless behaviour in a democratic society and must be condemned.
“We understand that people are fed-up with the bad service they receive from the ANC government, and across the North West the ANC has utterly failed the people, but violence and hostage situations will never solve service delivery breakdowns – only voting out a failing government can do so.”
– African News Agency (ANA)
