The public violence case against three community leaders from Diepsloot was moved to Wednesday for a bail application outcome.
The trio, who spent the weekend in custody, appeared in the magistrate’s court in Randburg on Monday following their arrests on Thursday last week.
The state requested for a postponement citing that investigation are ongoing.
Present outside the court building were dozens of community members who staged a protest in support of their leaders.
The group was supported by political parties including ActionSA, EFF and the Patriotic Alliance, who also called for the immediate release of the trio.
Speaking to the media outside court Thokwane Dithuge, also a community leader, said: “The ministers and police declared war against the community while they were protesting peacefully.
“I believe that the prosecutor was given a script. The lie is that the property was being broken into, that is a lie. On the day of the strike, the community was peaceful.
“The community was attacked from the back. It is shocking how the investigator is running things and the prosecutor is reading lies.”
The community is demanding that President Cyril Ramaphosa should travel to Diepsloot and provide a solution to their grievances, including coming up with crime-combating measures.
Dithuge said: “If the president does not want to see us, he must must write to us. This is not right, we will go home and come back on Wednesday to support our leaders.”
Sunday World reported last week that there was no end in sight to the ongoing protest by hundreds of residents after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said there were no plans for the president to visit the area soon.
Magwenya said on Thursday that the president’s schedule is full for the next two weeks, which was not received well by the residents.
“We cannot suspend the strike anymore. Nothing will be fully operational today [Thursday] until Ramaphosa comes here,” Lifa Nkala, one of the jailed leaders, said before his arrest last week.
“We want the attention of the president, not the ministers or the police. We heard that the Presidency will be coming to the area tomorrow [last Friday], however, we will not stop the strike until they come.”
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