Children as young as seven years old are reportedly wreaking havoc in Masiphumelele and Ocean View, stoning vehicles and burning tyres – a behaviour that has authorities mystified.
The Ocean View Community Policing Forum (CPF) believes the taxi strike was a catalyst for the action, says its deputy chair Terence Daniels.
“We believe that the taxi strike started the protest, but it was young adults and children.”
According to Daniels, the entrances to Masiphumelele were cordoned off, keeping residents “hostage”, last week.
“All the cars were blocked in, so nobody could leave. In one incident, an ambulance had to fetch a patient but had to wait for an armed escort.”
Ward 69 councillor Patricia Francke, who visited the area last week, said it was strange to see young children involved in such actions.
“What is so strange is that you don’t see taxi drivers or taxi owners. These are children from primary school to high school doing this, and not taxi drivers.
On Wednesday 9 August, Francke saw children aged seven to nine in the street and asked them what they were doing.
According to Francke, multiple vehicles were stoned and one torched in Masiphumelele since Monday 7 August.
She said at that stage authorities did not know whether the incidents were related to the taxi strike or the children were being told to carry out the violent acts.
“Today (Thursday 10 August) we were busy cleaning the road and what is so sad is that Pokela Road, in Masiphumelele, was just resurfaced a month ago and now it is damaged again,” Francke told People’s Post last week.
The motive for the behaviour was unknown at that stage, she said.
“They are stoning vehicles. We had a few vehicles damaged and one vehicle burned on Tuesday.
“There is no motive for it. I think they mimic what they see. They also can’t get arrested but keep in mind what would happen if law enforcement had to start firing shots and someone was hit. They even stoned law-enforcement vehicles.”
Francke said the “protest action” and its culprits were caught on CCTV footage.
“It’s a lot of children, they do it in the dark, but we can see them from the CCTV footage.
“I think we need to go to their schools and explain this to principals, that this is not on. They may listen to the principal and maybe they could tell us whether someone told them to do this.”
The protest action last week affected service delivery after refuse trucks could not enter the volatile area.
“It costs the City a lot of money to come in and clean and you’re not sure if it will stay like that. We also had a truck that couldn’t enter to empty the bins.”
Meanwhile, according to a statement by Western Cape Minister of Education David Maynier, 728 247 learners stayed home from school last week due to the minibus taxi strike.
In addition, 12 026 staff members (21,5%) were absent and 48 schools were closed (3,1%).
“It has been wonderful to hear stories of teachers’ genuine, real concern for their learners over the past week, particularly our matrics, who will be writing mock exams soon.
“We simply cannot afford to compromise our children’s futures by losing any more teaching and learning time when we are still trying to reverse learning losses from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
