NEWS & ANALYSIS

Police shotgun taken in Hermanus protests recovered

Partnership between police and community resulted in recovery of firearm

Police shotgun taken in Hermanus protests recovered

14 August 2018

Police have recovered the third firearm – a shotgun - taken from police during violent protests in Zwelihle, in Hermanus last month.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said on Monday that a partnership between police and the community resulted in the recovery of the firearm.

Three firearms were taken during the protests.

"In the course of the robbery, a police official sustained serious injury after being attacked with an axe. Two other firearms have since been recovered."

A suspect has been charged with the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

"Provincial SAPS (SA Police Service) management has commended the role played by the community in ensuring the shotgun was returned to the police."

Protests flared up in March over land for backyarders, after a group started pegging out plots on municipal land.

There were also complaints about alleged irregularities in the government housing processes and the unequal expenditure of services between black and white residents.

The protests subsided after some residents organised themselves into the Zwelihle Renewal Committee to negotiate with the municipality and the Department of Human Settlements, on behalf of the community, over land for backyarders and others who have been battling to find affordable places to live.

The violence flared up again in July when Zwelihle Renewal's Gcobani Ndzongana was arrested.

Ndzongana is accused of helping to remove a fence which apparently separated Zwelihle from a neighbouring suburb.

He was denied bail last month when he appeared in the Strand Magistrate's Court on charges of malicious damage to property and incitement to violence.

News24