Police rescue IEC officials at Vuwani in Limpopo
IEC officials attempting to register voters for the upcoming local government elections had to be rescued by police from violent protesters at Vuwani in Limpopo on Sunday.
Protesters threw stones at Tshivhulani Primary school and the Makahado municipality satellite office, where the officials were registering voters during the IEC’s voter registration drive this weekend.
The two venues were forced to close and officials left the area under the protection of heavily armed police officers.
Vuwani residents launched a series of protests last year after the announcement by the Municipal Demarcation Board that Vuwani would be part of a new municipality yet to be named in Malamulele.
The Malamulele municipality was promulgated after residents there protested for months, demanding their own municipality, separate from Thulamela municipality, which they accused of failing to deliver basic services.
Vuwani residents argued that they never asked authorities to include their area within the new municipality being planned for Malamulele. They demanded to be moved back to Makhado municipality.
Damage to property, such as businesses, vehicles, and schools, has rocked the Vuwani area. Residents vowed to disrupt the voter registration drive this weekend.
On Sunday, Vuwani community leader Alex Ndou said the community was succeeding in its plan to prevent voter registration in the area.
“We are winning in our battle, though the business is not yet over, we managed to make sure that IEC business is disrupted and don’t take place,” said Ndou.
“They try to open station here in Vuwani location and Tshivhulana but we fight them and manage to push them out. Police fired [at] us with rubber bullets but we [resisted] and fight them until they remove IEC officials,” he said.
Villagers in the area shut down the township and blockaded access roads to neighbouring villages. Fifteen people were arrested for public violence after damaging police and private vehicles.
Police spokeswoman Ronel Otto said public order police were still deployed in the area and would remain for as long as the protest continued.
“We will continue to maintain our presence until normality returns,” she said.