Mayor snubs church leaders
RETALIATE: A heavy police presence was visible yesterday outside the Galeshewe Magistrate’s Court after several community members appeared in court after being arrested over the weekend. Police had to use stun grenades and rubber bullets to maintain order. THE SOL Plaatje City Council yesterday requested intervention from Kimberley church leaders during a meeting held at the council chambers.
The meeting was the first of several planned meetings set to take place this week between the Sol Plaatje executive mayor, Mangaliso Matika, and church leaders, business formations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Matika, who had called for the meeting, was, however, absent.
According to the manager in the Office of the Mayor, George Mosimane, who chaired yesterday’s meeting, Matika was stuck in a meeting with the ANC provincial leadership.
Some church leaders saw the absence of Matika as a sign that he was not taking the religious fraternity seriously.
“The municipality needs to take the church seriously. The mayor should have told those who summoned him for a meeting that he had other obligations. Government needs to make use of the religious platform as community members are members of our churches and whatever message the council wants to convey to the people can be done through the churches,” said one religious leader.
Another leader suggested that the meeting be postponed in order to get substantial feedback on the way forward after the conclusion of the political leaders’ meeting.
“The spiritual and political leaders Danie van der Lith need to find a solution together. However, the political leaders are locked in a meeting and we are in a separate meeting. It does not seem that there is a clear way forward on what is expected from us as religious leaders. We came to pray for the political leaders but they are not present today. The only way for a divine intervention would be to have all role-players present and to pray for the healing of our city,” one leader said.
Another leader supported the notion that the meeting could not be successful if all role-players were not present to convey their sides in the matter.
“We have heard from the side of the municipality about the chaos that erupted during and after the march. Statements were made against the march organisers. I think it is unfair that we have a discussion on what went wrong when the other parties are not present to convey their side. We need to find a solution to this situation and restore peace to the city. For that to be a success all parties need to sit and discuss a way forward.”
Mosimane, at the start of the meeting, told the religious leaders that the meeting had been called following the disruptions that occurred during a protest march to the municipality last week.
The march was a follow-up to an earlier march against the R260 electricity tariff that the municipality wanted to implement.
Mosimane said that although there had been communication between the march organisers and the municipality, the march organisers’ demands kept changing.
“The problem started when the municipality, directed by Nersa, had to introduce a new electricity tariff of R260. A march was then planned against the tariff and the organisers, instead of giving the municipality seven days to respond, only gave 48 hours. We sent a letter requesting a meeting with the march organisers, however, they then called for the dismissal of some people, failing which they threatened to close the roads. This was after the municipality had taken the decision to review the matter regarding the electricity tariff. Information conveyed to the communities on the matter was distorted. The organisers only focused on the negative and ignored all the good things,” said Mosimane.
He laid the blame for the resulting chaos at the door of the march organisers.
“We received reports that the plan for the day was that the municipal building would be set alight while we we were still inside. The municipality has been vandalised and if one looks carefully you will notice that the stones used to do so are nowhere to be found in town. We heard that there was a bakkie that was used to transport stones, as well as a Corolla with petrol bombs inside. All our fire extinguishers inside the building also went missing. This matter has moved from the electricity issue to the mayor. We are dealing with people who do not want to find a solution to this matter.”
Mosimane said that the march organisers had from the onset pushed the municipality into a corner.
“During the march a decision was taken that the mayor should address the community from behind the glass door at the council, as we did not want to put him in harm’s way. Seconds after his address, marchers pelted the door with stones and the mayor had to be rushed to safety. Ever since the last march, organisers never called a meeting to address the issues. They always wanted to negotiate while a crowd was protesting outside. I told them that that was tantamount to blackmail,” said Mosimane.
The organisers of the march, Wanya Tsotsi leaders Pantsi Obusitse and Tebogo Mosikare, said that Mosimane’s remarks only added fuel to the fire.
“We need to be careful not to add fuel to the situation by making statements that are not true. The demands of the community were clear and we posted every communication we had on social media. We need to calm the situation and find an amicable solution. We never foresaw that things would erupt in the manner in which they did when we called for the march … if we had, we would have called it off.
“Our plea to the municipality from the onset was that we did not want to go to the streets and that they should solve the issue. They failed to do so and we had to march. Had they adhered to our calls like the political leaders did, this could have been prevented. We now need to find solutions on how to rebuild our city,” said the organisers.