DA says Kirkwood protest a result of debt being written off

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

The Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape says residents from Kirkwood's Moses Mabhida township have laid siege to the town, after R84.5 million had been written off for irregular expenditure by the Sunday's River Valley Municipality.

DA Eastern Cape MPL, Vicky Knoetze, says this is more than half of the municipality's annual budget of R150 million.

She says people were barred from entering the town by the Public Order Policing unit on Tuesday morning.

Knoetze says municipal offices, an ANC office, the fire station, fire-trucks as well as the garbage disposal truck had been set alight.

She says rubber bullets had been fired at protestors and that residents had been asked not to leave their homes.

Sunday's River Valley is amongst those named as the 14 worst performing municipalities in the Eastern Cape.

Police say the situation has started returning to normal in Kirkwood.

Spokesperson, Warrant Officer Basil Seekoei, says police are maintaining a strong presence in the town.