Ermelo - Municipal services in the troubled township of Wesselton outside Ermelo have been fully restored after a week of violent protests.
Refuse management and electricity and water services were shut down on Monday as the municipality did not want to risk damage to its vehicles and the safety of its officials, said spokesperson for the Msukaligwa local municipality, Surprise Ngcongo, on Friday.
Ngcongo said damage to municipal property during the unrest was estimated at more than R350 000.
Services were finally restored on Thursday.
"A heavy police presence brought stability to the township and allowed municipal officials to return to work on Thursday morning," he said.
Ngcongo believed that the riots were not related to service delivery issues, but internal ANC party politics ahead of the May local government elections.
"The recent spate of violent protests ... had nothing to do with service delivery concerns as greatly exaggerated in the mainstream media. In fact, concerns raised ... by the protesters are political in nature," he said.
National police commissioner General Bheki Cele visited the area on Wednesday and deployed an additional 160 police officers, including members of the Tactical Response Team, on the ground to restore order. The area has been calm since late Wednesday.
Mpumalanga police spokesman Captain Leonard Hlathi said on Friday that police were continuing to conduct stop and search operations in the township.
"It is still tense but the police have got the situation under control and taxis were able to transport people to work," said Hlathi.
At a press conference in Johannesburg on Thursday, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe admitted that the Wesselton riots were a result of ANC infighting over positions ahead of the upcoming local government elections.
"Those protests in Wesselton have nothing to do with service delivery, but about individuals who agitate communities to support them to be councillors. Anybody who wants to kill to become a
councilor, wants to serve his own interests," Mantashe told journalists.
He warned that the party would expel members who used communities to further their own political ambitions.
Since the unrest started on Sunday, more than 120 people were arrested and a 41-year-old man was killed. Police are waiting for the postmortem results to determine if a police bullet killed him.
