Eshowe shut down by protests over road issue
AGGRIEVED community members took their protest to Eshowe yesterday, clearing the streets and forcing businesses to close.
The town in the uMlalazi Municipality saw its main Osborne Road blockaded at the entry and exit points with concrete bins, sign posts and logs, and a satellite police station was torched.
King Dinuzulu Suburb representative Sifiso Ngubane said community members were generally peaceful and the municipality was “taking them for granted”.
“The community met yesterday (Sunday) and resolved to shut down the town today (Monday) – until they are listened to. Today marks a month since the community submitted a petition and the municipality is not responding satisfactorily,” said Ngubane.
He said the dissatisfaction was because the municipality sidelined community representatives.
“The community representatives wrote to municipal manager Thembinkosi Mashabane last Monday. He said he would attend us on Friday. He then communicated verbally that he would no longer be coming because he had received a directive not to meet with the community representatives, but the councillor who the community asked to step aside on this matter.”
The bone of contention with the community was a bus route (the KDS Bus Route). Ngubane said it was unacceptable that the council had not had a special urgent sitting to discuss the matter.
The protests have been primarily about the road that goes into the township which was originally tarred.
Delays
After last year’s local government elections a resolution was taken to rehabilitate the road. The tar was removed and has still not been replaced. The municipality attributed the delays to gravel supplies failing requirement tests, rain and a shutdown of construction in December.
The community handed over a memorandum a month ago, staged a protest and occupied the municipal offices. There were also community meetings. Municipal spokesman Mkhuseli Buthelezi said the municipality would listen to the community members if they abandoned their violent approach.
“The community said they did not want the company that was on site to continue. We asked it to leave and it took us to court. We had asked other companies to quote and will be appointing soon.
“We thought the ongoing talks were going well but clearly it is not so. The municipality wants to listen and provide solutions where possible and in the legal framework.”
Eshowe Chamber of Commerce chairman Duncan Balmer said they needed to meet with the municipality to get to the bottom of the matter. “With the whole town shut down businesses are scared to open. We just want to know what the problem is and if it is valid, it has to be sorted out.”
Eshowe Community Policing Forum deputy president Stan Larkan said they condemned the acts of violence and destruction of property.
“The situation is tense and volatile. We saw trees being cut down to blockade roads. Signposts, logs, concrete bins and building material from a construction site were used to blockade the road. They even burnt tractor tyres and logs throughout the main road,” said Larkan.
A mobile home that was acquired from Richards Bay in December to serve as a satellite police station was pulled on to the road with its furniture and set alight.