'Whole township is on fire'

Angry youths burned down the library in Siyathemba township in Balfour, in the second day of violence in the area.

Books and computers went up in smoke, and ash was all that remained after firefighters were unable to stop the blaze.

Late yesterday afternoon, two police officers barely escaped with their life when locals ambushed them and pelted them with stones and other missiles.

To protect himself, one of the officers sprayed rubber bullets at the crowd. When that failed, he hauled out his pistol, cocked it and waved it at the crowd while fleeing.

At the same time he had his cellphone to his ear and was frantically calling for back-up.

The Times saw another police officer emerging from a house in Siyathemba, running from a group of youths hot on his heels, throwing stones at him.

Siyathemba residents demanded that Balfour mayor Lefty Tsotsetsi and the entire Dipaleseng municipality council quit.

They also demanded that President Jacob Zuma return to deal with poor service delivery, that the township be incorporated into Gauteng and that they be given jobs at a nearby mine. Residents came out in droves, destroyed street lights and chanted struggle songs.

Police stood ready with pump-action shotguns and watched as residents toyi-toyied, brandishing placards and knobkerries.

Youth leader Sifiso Makhubu said: "The whole township is on fire and we can't keep on like this. We can't have a leadership that is an obstacle to the development of this township.

"We were promised six months ago and nothing has been done - once bitten twice shy. We are not backing off until there is something in black and white on what will happen with our demands."

Police spokesman Abe Khoabane said the 22 people arrested on Monday will appear in the Balfour Magistrate's Court today on public violence charges.

"We are going to contain the situation," Khoabane said. "You can't say there was no violence when two buildings were burned down." A municipal building was torched on Monday.

Khoabane said the police were investigating the looting of foreign-owned tuck shops.

Schooling was disrupted for the second day. Matrics vented their anger at losing another school day in a province in which the matric results last year were the worst in the country.

• Mpumalanga's MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Norman Mokoena last night rejected the requests by the residents to have the mayor and the council dismissed.

Mokoena, who spoke to journalists after he and other officials met Siyathemba residents, also condemned the torching of the library, saying the provincial government has spent R200000 to upgrade it.

On the community's demand for Balfour's incorporation into Gauteng, Mokoena said this was a long process that would not happen overnight.

He also said that Cabinet had taken a decision to build a university in Mpumalanga.