Sasolburg protest deaths rise to 4
2013-01-24 10:23
Sasolburg - Free State police have revised the death toll in
Sasolburg protests from two to four.
Differing deaths tolls have been reported by the media, but
Colonel Motantsi Makhele insisted on Thursday that the official death toll was
four. He said all four died in hospital on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, the police reported that two people had
been killed - one of them at the Zamdela police station.
The circumstances of the second death were not clear:
initially police said a motorist shot dead a protester on Tuesday, but on
Wednesday Makhele said a shop owner killed this protester.
On Thursday, Makhele denied saying this. He said two people
had been shot dead - one by a shop owner and one by a motorist.
He said another two protesters - and not one as initially
reported - died after being shot at the Zamdela police station during a clash
with protesters.
Deaths being investigated
This brought the official death toll to four - two
protesters shot dead at the police station, one shot dead by a motorist, and
one shot dead by a shop owner, said Makhele.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) said
earlier this week it would investigate the shooting at the police station.
Makhele said police were awaiting post mortem reports and
the outcome of their investigations to determine whether those killed died as a
result of protest-related activity or unrelated, criminal acts.
Earlier, Constable Peter Kareli said a house was stoned and
a construction site was set alight in apparent criminal attacks in Sasolburg on
Wednesday night.
"It appeared to be criminally motivated: people taking
an opportunity," he said.
The motive for the attack on the house was not known, as it
was not owned by a municipal official, he said.
"About 12 or 13 people started throwing stones at the
house, then they ran away." No one was injured.
Situation under control
On Thursday morning, residents began returning to work after
recent protests over municipal demarcation.
"Everything is under control, although the situation is
still tense," Kareli said.
Residents started protesting on Sunday in opposition to the
proposed merger, in 2016, of the Matsimaholo municipality in Sasolburg with the
Ngwathe municipality, under which Parys falls.
Co-operative Governance and Public Affairs Minister Richard
Baloyi announced on Tuesday that the merger would not immediately go ahead.
Kareli said that late on Wednesday afternoon residents, of
their own volition, began to clean up the debris left on the streets after the
protest.
"We are still going to have a lot of police officials
in the area until we are convinced that the situation is calm," he said.
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- SAPA
