Daily Sun (October 31 2013) - CHAOS broke out in central Cape Town yesterday as hundreds of protesters filled the streets to demand housing. When they got no joy from Premier Helen Zille, some of the crowd looted stores and stalls.

IT WAS THE SIEGE OF ZILLEVILLE - AND IT BROUGHT THE CITY TO A STANDSTILL FOR TWO HOURS!

Ranks of armed cops stood by and although no arrests could be confirmed, several people were loaded into police vans and driven away.

Shops and offices closed and kept staff inside for safety.

But it was the hawkers who suffered from the violence.

They complained that cops didn't do enough to protect them or their businesses.

The chaos began when crowds about 3 000-strong - mainly squatters and backyarders - marched to the provincial legislature demanding Premier Zille and MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela solve their problems.

Western Cape ANC heavyweight Mcebisi Skwatsha told the protesters over a loud hailer: "I went inside the building and asked for Zille but I could not find her."

This was the cue for crowds to run amok in Burg and Wale streets, looting and smashing car windows.

The looters, booing and singing revolutionary songs, also targeted busy St George's Mall.

Hawker Abdi Mohammed, who owns a clothing stall in the mall, said that he had lost half his stock to looters.

He told Daily Sun if he had known about the march he would have shut down for the day.

"The looters came in numbers and there was nothing I could do but save my life by stepping aside," he said.

Another hawker, Steven Humphrey, who sells clothing on busy Greenmarket Square, said: "The police should have known better, that the looting would happen, because it was in Daily Sun and all over the news."

The looters, mostly young people, chanted: "They should listen to us and give us land so we can have proper houses."

One of them vowed to bring Cape Town to a standstill until their demands had been met.

Another looter said: "It is time a clear message was sent to the Western Cape government that we have had enough of empty promises."

The marchers were led by Councillor Loyiso Nkohla, who had earlier encouraged looting (see here).

He told Daily Sun that the chaos happened "because Madam (Zille) refused to address the crowd".

• Zille later accused the protesters of being part of the ANC's plan to make the DA-controlled Western Cape ungovernable.
• The DA called on the ANC in Western Cape yesterday to dismiss Nkohla with immediate effect and to unconditionally distance itself from his recent inflammatory public statements and behaviour.

See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....

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