Staff Reporter
Some residents have reportedly started barricading roads in Bloemfontein with stones and burning tyres tonight in a development believed to be linked to a call for a total shutdown of the Free State capital this Monday by a group calling itself Mangaung Community Concern.
In a flyer circulated via social media, the little-known group says its planned protest is targeted at “corrupt leaders and officials”.
The group, whose leaders and members are not known, is demanding business and job opportunities, service delivery and land.
Worried transporters have warned parents they might fail to ferry their children to and from school tomorrow due to the planned protest.
“It is apparent that there is a shutdown around Mangaung that has been organised by surely people we don’t know. This shutdown is going to disturb the transportation of learners from home to school,” Tshwaragang Learners and Crèche Transport Association secretary-general Phopolo Maimane warned.
“. . . They are circulating information around Mangaung that all roads leading to and around town will be closed . . . The transporting of learners might be severely disturbed.”
A letter purporting to be from Tsoseletso High School in Bloemfontein is warning parents and guardians against sending their children to school tomorrow.
“The school has received numerous calls from parents and learners regarding tomorrow’s shutdown, therefore we advise parents not to allow their kids to report to school tomorrow,” says the letter that appears to have been signed off by the school’s acting principal.
“We don’t want to put our learners’ lives at risk, their safety is our priority.”
In several videos shared by Bloemfontein residents on Facebook and via WhatsApp, some men can be seen using burning tyres and stones to block off roads, including Dr Belcher Road between Pelonomi Hospital and the city centre.
More to follow . . .