Anger is mounting in response to a video circulated on social media showing a Metro police officer allegedly using force during protest action with a Bonteheuwel resident on Wednesday.

The residents in collaboration with the Bonteheuwel Ratepayers and Tenant Association (BRATA) embarked on a protest to highlight alleged corruption and poor service delivery in the area.

The video emerged after a group of protesters representing the Total Shutdown in Bonteheuwel disrupted a council meeting out of frustration and anger to hand over a memorandum of demands to ward councillor Angus McKenzie.

Chaos erupted as residents refused to meet with the councillor at a designated time and place which led to violent outbursts by residents.

A resident from Bonteheuwel Nadia Mayman said community members are unhappy about how the situation was handled by McKenzie. She said McKenzie’s refusal to meet with them led to Metro police removing them from council.

“We are very disturbed by what happened. We had no intention to get violent, however out of frustration we wanted to enter the meeting as this is the last one for the year. We just wanted him to acknowledge our concerns,” she said.

Mayman said the community fail to understand why the public was denied entry when all council sittings are open to the public.

Maymen further said Metro police should be held accountable as SAPS was not on the scene at the time.
“It was Metro police. I was there with a couple when we were forcefully removed from chambers by them,’’ she stressed.

Councillor Angus McKenzie denies all claims and said the intention of the residents was to shut down the council meeting.

“The claims made by Mayman is untrue and an absolute disgraceful lie. The complete intention of the activity was to shut down service delivery and to shut down the council meeting. That was the intention from the start,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie said he was made aware of this as it was evident in pamphlets and WhatsApp messages.

“They wanted to occupy the seat in the chamber wanted to bring a stop to the meeting in the chamber. They didn’t want the council meeting to proceed that is why and there’s photographic evidence of it. They all sat nicely in council seating areas and one or two of them decided to sit in the chairman’s area,” he said.

McKenzie said the events that transpired was  not an action that should be reported to be as abuse.

“The Metro police acted in terms of the law on Wednesday and if people feel that the actions of the law enforcement were overly heavy handled, those people have the right to go and lay charges against law enforcement and IPID so that a proper investigation can be conducted.”

By:  Rachel  Mohamed