Angry Diepsloot community members were protesting outside the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning, as three community leaders, arrested last week amid service delivery protests, were set to appear in court.
The three community leaders have spent the weekend behind bars, after they were arrested and charged for crimes including public violence.
Reverend Thokwane Dithuge, who has been at the forefront of the community protests, told journalists on Monday that the government does not care for poor citizens.
“This (arrest) is a delaying tactic. We had communication with the office of the president, we were going to sit around a table to say this is the way forward, the approaches and timelines, but our government does not value poor people, in particular a poor black person,” Dithuge told broadcaster eNCA at the court.
“For the past few months, a person has been dying in Diepsloot every weekend, not natural deaths but murdered. One of the president’s people said we cannot call him to Diepsloot, but people are living in Diepsloot.
“These people are in God’s image and we are here to protect them. These are defenceless people who cannot talk for themselves.”
He said the community members are becoming impatient, particularly after the arrest of the leadership.
Dithuge insisted that the protests are a genuine cry for help by a community besieged by crime.
“I want the president and his ministers not to have bodyguards, for one day, to move around without bodyguards. Let us see what is going to happen.
“It is just unfortunate that defenceless people who are unemployed, living in shacks, who close their doors with cupboards are simply asking for policing that is proper and this is what happens,” he said.
Last week, residents vowed to continue to intensify their anti-crime protest until President Cyril Ramaphosa comes to address them.
They also expressed having zero confidence in their local police, including Police Minister Bheki Cele, who has visited Diepsloot on different occasions in an attempt to mitigate complaints from community members.
IOL