Villagers at war with police after murder, protests

National police commissioner Riah Phiyega is scheduled to return to the volatile Tzaneen district today as tensions simmer after clashes between police and the local community this week.

Phiyega's visit will follow a two-day public-order policing conference held in Pretoria to map out a new strategy in the wake of repeat blunders by the police in their handling of crowd control during protests.

Yesterday, family members buried Tshepo Baloyi, 15, who was killed last Saturday during the clashes between police and residents of Relela village about 30km from Tzaneen.

Baloyi died during a community protest about perceived inaction by police in trying to find the killer of a girl from the village, Kgomotso Raolane, 15.

Tension remained high in the area and on Tuesday night it exploded into violence when about 1500 people - some of them armed with stones - stormed the local satellite police station, threatening to bomb it or burn it down.

Two of the Relela protesters, Mohale Selowa, 28, and Clarence Molele, 16, were allegedly shot dead by police.

Phiyega visited the area the next day to talk to community leaders. Police spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said the commissioner would be following up those discussions when she returned today.

Makgale said he could not provide details of the revised strategy for public order policing, but added: "We are going to deploy [the strategies] immediately and over the next couple weeks ahead of the elections."

This year alone up to eight people have been reported to have been killed by police during violent protests.

Three weeks ago four people were killed in Brits in North West province and a man died in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, after another service delivery protest.

These cases are all being investigated by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. Several policemen have already been suspended.

The protests that started in Relela have now spread to nearby villages and a total of 18 people have been arrested so far.

One resident said members of the community had been hell-bent on destroying the police station on Tuesday night, but stopped short because several protesters were in custody.

"If they did not have two of our people, who they had arrested, that police station would not be there right now. We were intent on destroying it," said the resident.

About 20 police officers were holed up in the yard of the police station during the attack and many of them sustained injuries. About 20 police vehicles were damaged during the week's protests.

In the aftermath, the main road that links several neighbouring villages was littered with rocks, branches and the remnants of burnt tyres that had been placed in the road as barricades.

The Raolane family is demanding justice for their murdered daughter, whose body was found with her arms tied behind her back, her right hand severed at the wrist, and her abdomen cut open.

The family is also angry that police released two people who they had taken in for questioning in connection with the murder, said her uncle, Frans Raolane.

"It's as if the police do not care," Raolane said.

But police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said police had released the two because they could not be linked to the murder.

Residents of Relela have little regard for their local police.

An unemployed young man wearing a Progressive Youth Alliance T-shirt said: "This is supposed to be a 24-hour station, but you if you go there to report a crime at night you find them sleeping and you won't get any help. Sometimes they park the patrol vans at their lovers' homes."

A mother waiting for a taxi to take her to Tzaneen said: "People are starting to believe police are working with some of these criminals. They say this is why they killed those protesters."

In the nearby village of Kubjana, a house, three cars, and a store belonging to a local businessman were torched by angry community members on Wednesday after the body of a three-year-old boy was found in his car. Limpopo police said no foul play was suspected in the death of the child.

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