Ladysmith and surrounding areas were gripped in terror as looters made their way to cause anarchy over the last week.
SAPS and members of the community stood their ground, as Ladysmith and parts of Ezakheni and entrance roads became battlefields. Looters retaliated by throwing stones and shooting live ammunition, police and the community rallied around each other to take back their town. With members of the South African Defence Force being deployed, the fight intensified and it became a cat and mouse game as looters tried to outsmart police and community blockages. Since the start of the Zuma supporters’ protests along the N11, on Friday afternoon, 9 July, police and members of the community doubled up their time to keep looters from gaining entrance. “We will not stop, until our town is safe,” said one of the community members. With the Defy factory in the Pieters Industrial area being the last stand for looters, police and army kept the large groups from gaining ground to other factories in the area.
