Pangas used in clash involving job seekers in coal mining town

Several houses were set alight and several people injured in clashes between community members in Phola near Ogies‚ said Mpumalanga police.

The unrest happened on Wednesday.

“A group of people who were marching to a local power station demanding employment were attacked by another group‚ who also torched several houses in the process‚” said Colonel Mtsholi Bhembe.

“ The group believed to be from Ogies used pangas‚ axes and other dangerous weapons during the attack and as a result‚ more than 40 people sustained injuries‚ some so severe they had to be hospitalised.”

Bhembe said no arrests had been made thus far.

Mpumalanga’s provincial police commissioner‚ Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma‚ condemned the violence and called for swift arrests.