ANC condemns property destruction in Grabouw

 11 May, 2016 

Residents destroy the Traffic Department building in Grabouw during a protest after their shacks were demolished in the area.
Image by: Esa Alexander

The ANC in the Western Cape on Wednesday condemned the looting of public property‚ torching of traffic department offices and disruption of schools during protests in Grabouw near Cape Town.

Provincial party secretary Faiez Jacobs said that pupils were "unable to attend school at such a critical time in the education calendar".

He blamed "criminal elements" for the violence and attacked the DA-led provincial government over the manner in which land invaders had been evicted.

"The ANC is convinced that communities appreciate that demands for specific deliverables cannot be made at the expense of other important community deliverables hence such destructions have to be the work of criminal elements who take advantage of such protests‚ further frustrating communities and create perpetual chaos‚" he said.

The destruction‚ he said‚ had to be unequivocally condemned.

"The ANC equally condemns the DA government‚ in the manner in which they handle evictions‚ particularly during this cold and wet winter season‚" he said.

"The gap between the DA rhetoric of being a caring government and the manner in which they treat the poor residents continues to widen‚ exposing this rich-poor divide policy implementation of this DA led Province. The reckless way of communicating with our people on evictions‚ through threats and intimidation is unbecoming and naturally conjures such outrage from communities‚" he said.

He called for a speedy solution to the matter
.