Call for full inquiry after protest death
2011-04-14 08:49
Willem van der Berg, Beeld
Johannesburg - The ANC on Wednesday night strongly condemned the death of Andries Tatane during a service
delivery protest in the eastern Free State.
The party called on Minister of Police, Nathi
Mthethwa, to appoint a full commission of inquiry into the incident.
It followed after a protest march about poor service
delivery to a town's municipal offices erupted in chaos on Wednesday morning,
leading to police shooting Tatane point-blank with rubber bullets and hitting
him with truncheons.
The events tied into recent unrest in the eastern Free
State about poor service delivery in Ficksburg and Clocolan, amongst other
towns.
Wednesday's violence apparently came about as mayor Mpothoma Maduma refused to
give feedback.
Residents of Maqheleng township marched to the municipal offices.
The community handed over a memorandum with demands to Maduna three weeks ago.
He did appear on Wednesday morning but according to the upset crowd, only gave
evasive answers.
Crowd increasingly incensed
Demonstrators then took to the town's streets.
Almost all businesses closed their doors when people overturned refuse bins,
broke windows and pulled street signs and road signs from the ground and threw
them in the street.
Spokesperson of Meqheleng Concerned Citizens (the organisation, which acted for
the community) Lisema Sam Motseare blamed Maduna for the disorder.
The crowd became increasingly incensed and started throwing bricks and stones.
Members of the riot police started shooting at them
with rubber bullets.
During the shooting, the bare-chested Tatane was challenging police – they were
standing behind a water cannon.
About ten police members pounced on him. One shot Tatane from up close with
rubber bullets in the chest. The other police officials hit him with
truncheons.
Tatane walked into the road but collapsed. He was removed by paramedics minutes
later from the municipal buildings, but had clearly died already.
Netcare 911 later confirmed that Tatane had died.
The community was furious. On Wednesday afternoon the atmosphere in Meqheleng
was still tense. There were barricades in the road and tyres were set on fire.
Police maintained a strong presence here and in Ficksburg.
Residents said they had been complaining for years about water and services but
nothing was done.
The municipal council on Wednesday called an emergency meeting in the municipal
offices. Representatives of the Free State provincial government apparently
attended it.
