Protesters spark sewerage plant chaos
REESTON protesters took Buffalo City Metro staff hostage for three hours at Reeston Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) yesterday, accusing their local councillor of failing to employ members of their community.
More than 100 protesters wielding sticks threatened to assault BCM staff at the treatment works. Protestors accused their ward councillor, Ncumisa Mekane, of dominating community meetings, refusing to engage with them and failing to employ people from Khayelitsha – a section of Reeston.
The Daily Dispatch raced to the scene yesterday, where about 100 people were gathered outside the gates of the WWTW. The protesters danced, chanted and sang Mshini Wam , among other struggle songs.
Patrick Khape, a supervisor at the WWTW, said the community members threatened him and other staff members. “They said they would beat us. I asked them why, because we didn’t do anything wrong. We tried to calm them,” he added.
Khape said the protestors were angry that 60% of the WWTW staff were not from their community. “They want this project to stop immediately, and the councillor doesn’t want to hear them at all. So they came in this morning and broke down the fence and the padlocks, and threw sludge [from the treatment works] in our offices,” Khape said.
He said he insisted that he and his staff were not involved in the employment process, and managed to calm the protesters.
BCM general worker Gobinamba Nzamo told the Dispatch, protestors had trampled the perimeter fencing and broken the padlocks to the main entrance.
“They also threw stones at me and the woman,” he said, referring to a woman colleague. Nzamo said the protestors dumped sludge in the supervisor’s office. The woman, who wouldn’t give her name, said the sludge was potentially harmful. “Who’s going to clean this? It’s dangerous,” she said.
Police escorted a truck carrying WWTW general workers off the premises, and as the truck passed the protestors, they stoned the vehicle before pounding it with sticks.
Mekane arrived at the WWTW shortly afterwards and tried to discuss the matter with protest representatives.
Khape said the protestors wanted 60% of the staff at the WWTW to be sourced from Khayelitsha, while the remaining 40% should come from Chicken Farm, Dice and Thembalethu.
Representatives for the protesters, who did not give their names, said they were frustrated with Mekane for failing to ensure members of their community were employed at the Reeston WWTW. While negotiations continued, protestors hurled abuse at Mekane, and began chanting: “come out, Ncumisa”, while thrusting their sticks in the air. Khape said some of the protesters had threatened to assault Mekane.
As negotiations continued, tempers flared between Mekane and the protest representatives. According to Mekane, a community meeting was held on Sunday where an agreement
We raised our hands to speak and Mekane wouldn’t let us speak
regarding the employment for the WWTW was decided on. The protest representatives disagreed, and accused Mekane of dominating the meeting, saying she did not give the community the opportunity to engage on the matter.
“We raised our hands to speak and Mekane wouldn’t let us speak,” one woman said. They said several community members had walked out of the meeting.
Mekane had appeared quite unsympathetic to the protest leaders, saying: “I will not entertain disgruntled individuals.”
She added that a public mass meeting needed to be held to settle the issue.
She also said that “the law must take its course”, and those protesters who had vandalised the WWTW and threatened staff should be dealt with by the police.
Police spokesman Captain Stephen Marais said police managed to calm the situation before escorting WWTW staff off the premises to ensure their safety. He said the matter was then handed over to BCM law enforcement.
Mekane was unavailable for further comment yesterday afternoon. —