Alex Matlala

Alex Matlala

The beleaguered Blouberg municipality outside Polokwane in Limpopo continues to attract attention for all the wrong reasons.

This time municipal manager Ike Makhura had to seek police help when a group of "unruly" youths stormed his office and demanded that he and mayor Refilwe Kubjana and speaker Sammy Selamolela resign.

Selamolela is also a senior manager in the provincial department of public works.

The youths ordered the trio to leave the offices of the municipality immediately. This prompted a visibly frightened Makhura to summon the police and 11 people were arrested.

Senwabarwana police Inspector Milton Sekuba confirmed the arrest and said they had acted on Makhura's instructions as the municipal accounting officer.

Sekuba said those arrested would be charged with trespassing and interfering with the work of the municipality.

Sanny Mannya of the SA National Civic Association said the residents' request for a meeting with the municipality to air their discontent about a lack of services had yielded no response.

He said Makhura and his colleagues "were running the municipality like a spaza shop". Disgruntled residents wanted them to resign.

Attempts to get comment from the municipality drew a blank since municipal spokesman Nhlanhla Mashele claimed she was not aware of the situation since she was not at work.