Violence rears its ugly head during protest action
BCM, Komgha, Ginsberg and PE feel the brunt
SERVICE delivery protests are mushrooming in the Eastern Cape despite Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize’s visit to “priority municipalities”.
The hotspots include Great Kei in Komgha where a municipal building was torched on Wednesday.
There were also protests in Buffalo City Metro where angry protesters took to the streets yesterday, disrupting traffic flow into and out of the city on the Black Road which links Mdantsane with East London.
Earlier this week Ginsberg residents in King William’s Town also embarked on protest action, demanding better service delivery and were involved in running battles with police. Nine residents were arrested and released on bail following the protest action.
Similar protests continued at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth yesterday with classes being suspended as a result.
Mkhize headed to another hotspot of protest action in Keiskammahoek yesterday, where a library and an old government building have been torched since protest action started last month.
The minister’s visits to the troubled areas, however, was not in response to the rolling service delivery protests but a planned one to “priority municipalities” said Cogta communications director-general Legadima Leso.
Leso said Mkhize was in the province to look into “challenges that have been raised on local government generally and some municipalities that are not able to sustain themselves other due to various challenges – to inability to collect revenue, infrastructure challenges and those that have issues of water, sanitation and waste removal”.
Mkhize has also met with Eastern Cape Premier Phumulo Masualle and his provincial counterpart Fikile Xasa to discuss issues raised in the ongoing protests.
Following the burning down of the the Great Kei Municipality mayor Loyiso Tshetsha’s office on Wednesday, a community meeting addressed by the municipality’s chief Whip Luleka Ndabambi and the councillors of Wards 6 and 7 Linda Ntonze and Themba Gqomoroshe, was convened where residents vented their frustrations over poor service delivery in the area.
It was in the same meeting that the Great Kei United Forum, which has been leading the community protest and suspected of being behind the destruction of the municipal offices and two refuse collection trucks, distanced themselves from the incident.
During the heated meeting, Forum chairman Zola Tshali said they were also concerned about the destruction of municipal property, especially that of the offices.
“We support the police investigation to the arson attack to our municipality’s offices but we do not take kindly to accusations that it is us because we love this municipality and no matter our frustrations, burning it down is not an option,” said Tshali. Residents heckled the councillors at the meeting, making it difficult for them to respond.
Among other complaints the community members raised were the poor state of roads, water problems, electricity supply issues and lack of efficient waste collection in the municipality’s townships. —