Thembalethu Tumult

I briefly noted on Friday that there had been riots in Thembalethu, about 440km / 275mi east of Cape Town. The newspapers reported that costs ran into (as I remember) more than twenty million rands -- not that cost is all that it's about. But it makes a difference to see the aftermath up close, as I did this weekend. The main intersection of this major township (population 32 000) is plunged into darkness, its lights apparently shot out. Dead traffic lights stand at an angle, and debris from some twenty fires marks the road. There is a much increased police presence in the township (patrol cars winding their way through playing children).