Activists chase workers from site of N2 tollroad
Sanral denies doing the work secretly
AROW has broken out near Xolobeni after Sanral started knocking in survey pegs marking out the new greenfields section of the N2 Wild Coast tollroad.
Activists admitted chasing Sanral and other service providers from the area and will do so until new Sanral CEO Skhumbuzo Macozoma meets with them.
An open letter drawn up by the Traditional Authority of Umgungundlovu and released yesterday by the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), announced: “Starting from now, Sanral will cease and desist from all activities in our community. If you don’t respect this, we will tie up your staff and keep them here by us, until their fathers come and fetch them.”
ACC spokeswoman Nonhle Mbuthuma said the letter had been written on instruction from the community after meeting on Thursday.
Craig Mclachlan, Sanral’s southern region project manager, said the survey pegs had been installed last year “along the entire greenfields section of the N2 WCR. These were all installed during work hours and were not installed secretly or overnight as alleged”.
He said the meeting with Macozoma was being arranged with the “queen regent of Qaukeni and the headwoman of the Umgungundlovu sub-region traditional authority”.
Responding to ACC allegations that the ground had been pegged before 40 homestead owners had been consulted, Mclachlan said: “Sanral conducted extensive community consultations sessions in 2008 as part of the environmental impact assessment process.”
In December 2015 the greenfields portion was given the green light and Sanral conducted “extensive stakeholder consultation including the political and traditional leadership of Mbizana and the Amadiba traditional authority area”.
He said attempts to meet with Mdatya and Sigidi villages early in 2017 had been postponed until Sanral formally met with the Umgungundlovu headwoman (Duduzile Baleni). After this meeting, the villages would be invited to a meeting.
Mbuthuma said their invitation to Macozoma came at a time the community was still in court challenging the road’s construction.
She said Macozoma claimed to be available to meet the community, while also allowing his regional office led by Mclachlan to go ahead with road-building preparations.
“Sanral came to drill for water on Sunday. They were chased away. But they were told to come [Thursday] but instead they came at night and drilled a one-metre wide deep hole which is dangerous.
“In Mdatya and Sigidi, Sanral staff were also stopped by the community on Sunday, and referred to today’s meeting. They did not come.
“But they came back to Mdatya on Human Rights Day, when the whole community was at the Bazooka Radebe’s homestead for a commemoration one year after Bazooka was killed.” — mikel@dispatch.