By Graeme Hosken

Nearly 5 000 Pretoria schoolchildren, some as young as 10, were involved in running street battles with police in Mamelodi on Tuesday.

Dozens of businesses were ransacked and looted in the violence, during which police fired rubber bullets.

The bloody scenes erupted on Tuesday after children from five primary and secondary schools in Mamelodi East assaulted a man for allegedly raping a 19-year-old schoolgirl and police apparently failed to respond to the rape - 24 hours after it happened.

Irate children from Gatang, Ribane-Laka, Izikhulu and Solomon Mahlangu secondary schools, along with pupils from Boikgantsho Primary School, attacked the man with planks, steel bars and wire, trussing him before dragging him across an open field.

'Our security guards had no chance'

The man is believed to have escaped after road workers spotted the children assaulting him and chased them away. The children then turned their anger on the road workers, stoning them as they were escorting the man to safety.

The more than 2 000 children charged through Mamelodi Gardens, forcing thousands of pupils walking home from school to join in the rampage.

Residents, business owners, vendors and motorists had to flee when the children stoned vehicles, houses and shops, stealing tens of thousands of rands worth of merchandise.

Andrew Kotlolo, owner of the BP Garage in Hinterland Avenue, said a group of 200 children stole merchandise worth more than R30 000 after smashing windows and CCTV cameras before turning on motorists filling their vehicles with petrol.

"It was chaos. Our security guards had no chance to protect the store or the customers. There were children everywhere, grabbing whatever they could before hurling rocks through our windows and the windows of cars parked at the garage," he said.

'These people are nothing but hooligans'

Kotlolo said while he could understand their frustration at the police's apparent failure to respond to a crime against a schoolgirl, he did not see why they had to ransack and loot. "These people are nothing but hooligans and deserve to be locked away. I have no sympathy for them and hope they get the hiding of a life time when they are caught," he said.

James Mohlongo, a vendor operating near Kotlolo's garage, said he had lost everything.

"They beat me before stealing all my vegetables and fruit. They are nothing but common criminals," he said.

Motorist Dorothy Dube said her front window was smashed as she drove past Gatang Secondary School.

"As I stopped at the stop street about 20 children descended on me with police behind them. Several of them jumped on my car, kicking in the windows as police opened fire on them," she said.

Dube said she could not understand how children could be allowed to rule the streets.

"Something has to be done. The law cannot be blatantly broken by these hooligans. They must be arrested and thrown into jail for a very long time," she said, adding that her handbag along with her wallet and cellphone were stolen.

Citing the reasons behind the chaos, 15-year-old Dume Mpakaya said they had run riot because of all the crime that was affecting Mamelodi's schoolchildren.

"The man was attacked because it took police more than a day to respond to the rape. The only way we could get them to come to us was if we took the law into our own hands and behaved like criminals," he said.

"It looks like the only time police respond to crimes is when someone is either killed or if community members take to the streets," Dume said.

"It is about time the police take action and we believe the only way that they will is if we become thugs," he said.

Police spokesperson Constable Brenda Kgafela confirmed the alleged rape, saying police were investigating the attack which happened while the girl was walking to school on Monday.

She said they were searching for a short man of medium build who has a moustache and two gold teeth. He is wanted in connection with the rape.

Kgafela said cases of malicious damage to property and public violence had been opened.

• This article was originally published on page 1 of The Pretoria News on May 24, 2006

Published on the Web by IOL on 2006-05-24 01:23:00