Africa-Press – South-Africa. Swellendam Mayor Francois du Rand said it would cost about R25 million to rebuild the Western Cape town’s main municipal building that was gutted during protest action on Wednesday.
The picturesque Overberg town was tense on Thursday after disgruntled residents took to the streets over steep tariff increases, setting alight the municipal offices and blocking the N2 highway.
“This is money that will not be available and could have been used to provide services to the communities,” the mayor said.
Du Rand added that the municipality remained open to talk with residents under a climate of calm and peace.
Locals told News24 the protest action was triggered by steep municipal increases that came into effect on 1 July.
Many complained about exorbitant electricity increases, refuse collection, and water tariffs.
Residents said it was “chaos”.
A resident who has lived in the area for over 50 years said what happened on Wednesday was “tragic”.
She said:
The town was calm on Thursday after the unrest but many shops remained closed after residents targeted shopkeepers and destroyed infrastructure.
Police maintained a strong presence in the area.
“The police arrested 106 suspects on charges of public violence, malicious property damage, and arson on Wednesday morning,” said Southern Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Christopher Spies.
He said those arrested were being processed before making a court appearance.
“A strong police contingent consisting of public order police members supported by local police as well as neighboring police stations are on the ground,” he said.
Spies added that law enforcement was monitoring the situation and would remain in the area until the situation had normalised.
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