adminThree police officers were injured when a mob threw stones at them in the town, 90km south of Johannesburg, Constable Peter Kareli said.
In return, 50 officers fired rubber bullets and stun grenades and deployed water cannons to disperse the rioters, who went on the rampage because of a plan to move local government boundaries, he added.
“These people are attacking us in groups at different locations so it is difficult for us to control them,” he said.
Some of the crowd were armed with knives, machetes and firearms and police had made at least 130 arrests since the violence broke out on Sunday, he added.
Sasolburg is home to the 108 000 barrels-per-day Natref refinery, owned by petro-chemicals group Sasol and oil major Total. Kareli said the refinery was not in danger.
Violent protests erupt periodically in South Africa’s predominantly black townships, which have seen little improvement in living standards since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Meanwhile, there has been a disturbing absence of evidence on the Marikana shootings, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard in Rustenburg yesterday.
Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, for the families of the 34 slain striking miners, said he had been unable to obtain footage from the police of the shootings.
He told public order policing expert Brigadier Zephania Mkhwanazi that the footage was either being suppressed or had been destroyed.
“It may well be that the evidence existed, but was destroyed or deleted. I’m not saying by you.”
Mkhwanazi said he understood the questioning and would be forthcoming with information.
“What I know I will definitely disclose.”
The inquiry, into the deaths of 44 people during an unprotected strike at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in August, resumed at the Rustenburg Civic Centre yesterday.
It is chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam. The other commissioners are senior advocates Bantubonke Tokota and Pingla Hemraj.
Thirty-four striking miners were shot dead and 78 wounded on 16 August 2012 when the police opened fire on them while trying to disperse a group gathered on a hill near Lonmin’s platinum mine.
In the preceding week, 10 people, including two police officers and two security guards, were hacked to death near the mine.
President Jacob Zuma announced the commission in August. — Sapa/AP
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