It is shocking that residents of two Rustenburg residential neighbourhoods were terrorised for hours on Tuesday night by a large group of lawless informal residents with authorities taking no action to bring the situation under control.
Residents of East End and Zinniaville in Rustenburg were confronted on Tuesday night by a horde of protesters who blocked roads, torched vehicles, pelted homes with stones, and harassed residents by yanking at their gates and shouting all kinds of threats. The group came from a nearby informal settlement and were reportedly protesting about the power outages in their area.
During the traumatic ordeal, the residents of East End and Zinniaville had to rely mostly on themselves with no real support from the police or local law-enforcement agencies.
The lack of swift, preventative police action to protect residents and their property is unacceptable.
Clearly, a lack of visible policing and effective communication between the relevant authorities as well as insufficient police intelligence meant that pro-active steps could not be taken against the rioters.
Incidents like these pose a threat to the entire Rustenburg community and, in particular, the local economy, which relies heavily on an image of stability and prosperity in town to grow.
The combination of poor service delivery in ANC-controlled municipalities, a culture of utter lawlessness in communities, and a police force that is apparently not equal to the task creates a fertile breeding ground for anarchy and overall decay.
South Africa cannot allow law-abiding taxpayers to be harassed and held hostage by circumstances, which are the direct result of the ANC’s corruption, mismanagement and incompetence.
South Africans deserve better than the ANC.
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