A group used WhatsApp messages, amongst others, to encourage residents to be involved in the shutdown of Jouberton, Alabama and the N12. It further said no taxis were allowed to pass, no school should be allowed and they also threatened to burn down the new centre. Earlier local media reports said the newly built centre was under heavy guard of the public order police. The departmental spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane, says the department has since asked the police to be on guard in a bid to prevent those planning to burn down the place.

Meanwhile, police spokesperson, Adele Myburgh, said 18 suspected looters were arrested on Monday afternoon after irate protestors went on the rampage, looting foreign-owned national shops over what they call a lack of service delivery. Myburgh says the looting on Monday afternoon resulted in the arrests of at least 18 people aged between 17 and 37 years old. They will appear at the Klerksdorp Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on a charge of Public Violence. She said during the protest, scores of residents, including young people, barricaded roads and looted foreign-owned tuckshops in Jouberton and Alabama. OFM News previously reported that a group calling itself “Forum for Service Delivery” urged residents to embark on a total shutdown of the area, but the genuine Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD), with the correct spelling, has denied any knowledge of the message.

OFM News