DA condemns caucus meeting invasion
YET another disgruntled group has stormed the Durban City Hall, raising concerns about the safety of council members and employees.
KwaZulu-Natal DA leader, Zwakele Mncwango, said the group of about 50 disrupted their caucus meeting yesterday.
They claimed to be metro police officers and demanded to see city leadership, particularly city manager S’bu Sithole.
“They marched into the old council chamber singing and toyitoying. We didn’t argue or fight with them, we just got up and left,” Mncwango said.
Sithole said he was informed about the incident by Tex Collins of the DA who he said barged into his office and spoke to him as he would to a “garden boy”.
He said this angered him so much that he refrained from attending to the matter as he had initially intended.
“He stormed into my office … the way he spoke to me… Some of us lived through apartheid and will not tolerate such behaviour… absolute disrespect.
“Those people who interrupted the DA meeting had nothing to do with me,” Sithole said.
He said he had met union representatives of metro police and scholar patrol officers earlier and that all issues discussed had been resolved amicably.
Mncwango said they were concerned about safety. “It seems anyone who has grievances against the city leadership can just walk right into the city hall.”
Last week 21 disgruntled VIP bodyguards employed by the city stormed an executive committee council meeting, forcing their pay grievances on to the agenda.
And last year taxi owners interrupted an exco meeting, demanding the release of taxis impounded by metro police.
“This is serious, it means the only way ANC leadership will listen is if people interrupt meetings. It is only when someone is being disruptive that they are given an ear. What will happen next is that anyone who has a grievance will come to city hall and cause anarchy. What about the safety of council members and council employees?” asked Mncwango.
“One would expect that within the city hall, security would have stopped them. Unless it is, as I understand, that someone directed them to a venue but they unfortunately went into the chamber being used by the DA. Their intention does not seem to have been to disrupt the meeting, their issues are not connected to that meeting,” Sithole said.
Regarding it becoming a pattern to hold the city to ransom, Sithole said these incidents had to be understood in the context of public protests taking place in the country.
“We need to understand the environment within which we operate. At the moment things are very volatile and contestation is rife because of the upcoming elections.”
Mncwango believed these “desperate” groups were being used to fight personal battles in what he described as the ANC’s faction fighting.
Sithole said: “At an administrative and political level we are prepared to engage on issues and this does not mean we will agree but we will listen to what people are saying and if it is within reason, will start the process to make it happen.”