We knew Vuwani would explode after demarcation, says Mahlobo

State security knew that chaos would erupt Vuwani a year before more than 24 schools burnt down.

This is according to member of the subcommittee on peace and stability on the ANC national executive committee David Mahlobo, who revealed it in a media briefing at the ANC national policy conference in Nasrec in Johannesburg on Tuesday evening.

Mahlobo was giving feedback after resolutions were taken in the commissions and accepted by plenary.

The situation in Vuwani became volatile following the demarcation of the areas into a new municipality.

Residents took to the streets for more than three months in 2016, protesting against the decision to incorporate the area into LIM345.

Earlier this year the protests were reignited by residents, who demanded that Vuwani be reincorporated into Makhado, but the situation was tempered by the decision to let Vuwani be serviced by the Vhembe District Municipality.

Mahlobo told Business Day after the briefing that when intelligence is gathered, and people have not committed a crime "why should you arrest them?"

"Our constitutional democracy does not allow you to do that," he said.

He said when intelligence is gathered from an operational point of view, they would have to scan the environment and then do the deployment.

There was a deployment in Vuwani. He said one of the things that is not generally talked about is the terrain in the area.

He said the terrain in Vuwani is "terrible", and that it is something that people do not take into consideration when they discuss the matter. He said the human factor is also at play, as the police live in the area, and community members intimidate the police. Other policeman are then brought in to assist in these localities, said Mahlobo.