Councillor can’t say why he disrupted meeting
AFTER boldly proclaiming in front of a large crowd on Wednesday night that a scheduled public meeting in Uitenhage would not go ahead, ANC Ward 50 councillor Lunga Nombhexeza struggled to explain himself on Thursday.
Asked why he had disrupted the meeting at the Allanridge Hall, Nombhexeza initially directed questions to the ANC leadership, but later claimed he had addressed the crowd only after the meeting had already collapsed.
A Herald reporter at the meeting saw Nombhexeza standing on a table shouting: “This meeting won’t take place. We want [mayor Athol] Trollip here and not these councillors.”
Asked what causes he had championed for Ward 50, in KwaLanga, Nombhexeza said that he had made submissions in July to Trollip regarding a lack of service delivery in his area.
He said he had never submitted motions to portfolio committees and the council because the needs of his ward were being met.
“I hope the mayor will be able to address us,” he said.
“We’ve had a good relationship with the municipality but there are still services that need to be addressed.”
Asked why he had not used the opportunity at Wednesday’s meeting to get residents to air their grievances in front of an audience of the municipality’s officials and political heads, Nombhexeza said he had feared for his safety.
This week the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality embarked on a round of public participation meetings to be held at venues across the city over three weeks. This presents residents with an opportunity to interact with their government – to hear their plans for the various wards but also to give the community a chance to have their say about what it is they want. This is then compiled into a document called the IDP (integrated development plan), which is the municipality’s five-year plan for the metro. The city’s bean counters then use the document to inform the budget allocations. Granted, not everyone’s wishes find expression in the IDP, but for the most part, the needs of the wards are documented.
On Wednesday night, a third IDP public participation meeting was disrupted at the Allanridge Community Hall in Uitenhage. It came as no surprise as this is an ongoing problem, with the last two rounds of public meetings having almost all been characterised by chaos and disruptions and, at times, violence.
We reported on Thursday that ANC ward 50 councillor Lunga Nombhexeza stood up on a table and chanted “down with Trollip, down”. He then said: “This meeting won’t take place. We want mayor Athol Trollip here and not these councillors.”
The problem with this is that he was openly advocating for a legislated requirement of the municipality – which happens to be his employer – to be disrupted.
As someone who solemnly swore to uphold the constitution of the republic, his actions are especially problematic. In the last financial year, the IDP public participation meetings cost the city R1.2m. Disrupting such meetings means the money is wasted.
But it goes deeper than that. All these disruptions, mostly in wards governed by the ANC, rob residents of the opportunity of being heard by their government. It is even more problematic coming from a councillor who has not uttered a single word in committee meetings or in council, or even tabled a motion, to champion the plight of the poverty-stricken community he leads.
Grandstanding may serve short-term political goals, but ultimately it has far-reaching consequences for the community Nombhexeza was elected to serve.