The six suspects who were arrested for allegedly vandalising Vodacom shops at Mall of the North in Polokwane have been released on a warning.

Their malicious damage to property charges have now been postponed to February 22 for further police investigations.

On Sunday, the group together with scores of others wearing EFF t-shirts, vandalised a Vodacom store in the Mall of the North in Polokwane, Limpopo. There were also reports of an vandalism in Makhado, as well as Greenstone mall on Monday.

The protests followed a lecture by the chairperson of corruption watch Mavuso Msimang at the 2018 Vodacom journalism awards where he presented an image depicting EFF leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu as “abusers of freedom”.

Police spokesperson Motlafela Mojapelo said “the identity of the suspects, whose ages range between 25 and 45, will for now be withheld, pending police investigations that are unfolding,”

He said more arrests are imminent, despite Vodacom and EFF having had a mutual agreement.

Vodacom and EFF leadership met after the incidents and resolved their misunderstanding and agreed that the “matter could have been handled differently”.

“Vodacom acknowledged that it is politically neutral and it doesn’t influence party political positions in any way. Vodacom and EFF appreciate that the matter could have been handled differently to avoid the misunderstanding that occurred,” the EFF and Vodacom said in a joint statement on Tuesday.