The Mashishing Activists Forum has called for peace in the township following a spate of riots that led to the destruction of government offices, vehicles, houses, the death of a man as well as injuries to scores of residents.

This week 10 people were arrested for public violence after riots broke out again last weekend at the township near Lydenburg, Mpumalanga.

For almost two months the community has rioted over rumours that later turned out to be true, that R3,2million had disappeared from the Thaba Chweu municipality's account after it was allegedly hacked into online.

A police Casspir, an office of the South African Social Security Agency, a library, a hostel and cellphone shops containers were torched during the violence.

In a statement released yesterday, the forum said the recent violence had been coordinated by "faceless people" that it viewed as a "third force".

"We are convinced that some of the people behind these actions were informants of the executive mayor (Clara Ndlovu)," said the forum's spokesperson, Samora Molotjwa.

He said the forum was anticipating the removal of Ndlovu from office.

Ndlovu was rumoured to have resigned after she allegedly gave a "letter to that effect" to regional ANC secretary Mandla Ndlovu.

But the mayor denied the rumours.

The forum has called for Ndlovu's and other senior officials' resignation after accusing them of corruption and lack of vision to improve service delivery.

"We are giving the council until Friday (tomorrow) to remove the executive mayor," said Molotjwa.

Police spokesperson Captain Leonard Hlathi said the call for peace was welcome if it could be sustained.

"This is long overdue and it shows leadership maturity," he said.

The municipality was not available for comment yesterday.