Tembisa residents rendered the Soweto township inoperable on Monday over heightened frustrations with their mayor, Tania Campbell.
UPDATE: Deat toll rises to four, latest updates on Tuesday, 2 August 2022. – 06:44, Tuesday, 2 August 2022.
Tensions are still rife in Tembisa, where residents took to the streets to showcase their deep-rooted frustration with the state of service delivery in the Ekurhuleni municipality. While little to no riot activity has been witnessed on Tuesday morning, it’s been confirmed that the Tembisa shutdown has claimed four lives. At this juncture, no further updates have come from the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department on the cause of deaths.
In a statement, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) condemned the level of police brutality witnessed in the Soweto township and called for authorities to “practice restraint in their interactions with protesters in Tembisa.
Read the full statement below:
UPDATE: Death toll in Tembisa shutdown rises to two. – 14:15, Monday, 1 August 2022.
As reported by eNCA, at least two protesters were shot and killed in violent clashes with Ekurhuleni law enforcement. This is a developing story.
See the latest video clips of the Tembisa shutdown below.
UPDATE: Victim reportedly killed in violent clashes in Tembisa.
The situation has intensified in Tembisa, Soweto, and according to reports, a victim may have been fatally shot in violent clashes with Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officials. This is a developing story we will update as soon as possible.
Here is latest footage of the unrest breaking out in Tembisa on Monday.
What is the leading cause of Tembisa shutdown?
As reported by Jacaranda FM, angry residents took out their frustrations on innocent passers-by along key routes in Tembisa on Monday morning, after Ekurhuleni Mayor Campbell failed to turn up at a community symposium scheduled for Friday, 29 July 2022.
The meeting, according to Metro police spokesperson Kelebogile Thipa, was meant to address service delivery issues listed in a memorandum of demands that was recently handed to the mayor’s office.
“The residents expressed dissatisfaction after her no-show and took to the street to protest. The mayor sent other city officials to address the masses, but discussions collapsed, and Intel gathered that 1 August 2022 Tembisa will be ‘shutdown’,” Thipa noted.
Campbell, whose no-show was not supported by a statement, neither from her office nor her political party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has yet to surface to honour her earlier promise to Tembisa residents.
This is how last Friday’s symposium ended, a clear precursor to the events unfolding in the Soweto township on Monday:
Road closures in Tembisa on Monday, 1 August 2022
Ekurhuleni law enforcement officials have been deployed to monitor the unrest in Tembisa. At the time this article was published, information on arrests had not been released to the media.
From what we understand, the torching of a truck on the R21 highway, an important route that connects Johannesburg to Pretoria, has been linked to the Tembisa shutdown. Motorists travelling in the area have been warned to practice extreme levels of caution.
Here are videos of unrest that’s broken out in areas of Tembisa and surrounds motorists should avoid:
