Soweto mob torches ANC councillors' homes

A woman and at least four young children have narrowly escaped death after an enraged mob torched the Soweto home of an ANC councillor.

The chilling arson attack - one of two targeting councillors in Tshiawelo yesterday - has been furiously condemned by the ANC, which has called on the police's crime intelligence unit to act to protect its officials.

The Times photographer Halden Krog captured the dramatic rescue of the woman and children after the mob - apparently infuriated by the installation of pre-paid electricity metres in the area - attacked the home of councillor Mirriam Ramafola, smashing windows and setting the property and a Toyota RunX on the premises ablaze.

The crowd began dispersing as police arrived about 15 minutes later and tried to put out the fire.

As Krog documented the terrifying scene, with smoke rising from Ramafola's home, he noticed that some of the neighbours were trying in vain to put out the fire.

At least four children and a woman were later rescued from the property by police and neighbours. They had apparently been inside a flat attached to the back of the property when the arsonists struck.

Warrant Officer Mpho Kgasoane last night said police were able to save the woman and children because Ramafola's house had only been partially burnt.

"The part of the house that got burnt was the side of the parking garage, and they were in one of the rooms on the other side of the house," she said.

According to initial reports, Ramafola was not at home at the time. However, some of the residents said she had been hiding inside the house. It could not be established if she was the woman who was rescued by police.

Krog said the mob had first blockaded the main Old Potchefstroom Road in the morning.

At around lunch time, they moved from the main road and marched towards a house in Tshiawelo extension 2 belonging to another ANC councillor, Joe Nemaungane, before setting it alight.

Nemaungane was not at home at the time.

The ANC last night condemned the attacks and called on its branches to help security agencies to bring those responsible to book.

Dumisa Ntuli, the ANC's spokesman in Gauteng, said the burning of the councillors' homes was driven by criminal inclination and hatred of the ruling party.

He said the two councillors and their families were still traumatised by the attacks. The two families have now been moved to places of safety.

"There is no justification to burn the houses of councillors because Eskom is responsible for electricity connections.

"The ANC councillors had nothing to hide and have called many meetings to explain to communities the dangers of illegal electricity connections.

"Now that an electricity transformer has failed because of overloading, the mob now blames the councillors," Ntuli said.

He said no amount of frustration and anger should give communities a licence to act violently.

"We are just fresh from local government elections. The ink has not even dried [on] the ballot papers [and] arsonists are [already] undermining the popular mandate of ANC councillors to improve the lives of ordinary people," he said.

Last night residents in Tshiawelo said the attacks on the two councillors might also be linked to frustrations about the election of community representatives.

They alleged that the list process was manipulated and that the community was angry.

One resident said people's frustrations about their daily struggles was taken out on the two ANC councillors.

Allegations are that Nemaungane was forced onto the ANC list despite objections by many in the community.

While the ANC called for action to be taken against the mob and its ringleaders, there are now fears the incident might be repeated in other communities angered by the lack of service delivery.

The protest in Soweto comes a day after the Gauteng provincial government announced that it would take "drastic measures" to fix ailing municipalities.

The province has, however, cautioned that non-payment of services was threatening turnaround strategies.