GO GEORGE meeting in Themba disrupted
A meeting which was intended to be an information session with regards to the rolling out of Phase 4 of the GO GEORGE bus system in Thembalethu had to be stopped at Tyholorha Primary School on Tuesday 19 February.
The meeting, which was called for Thembalethu residents, was stopped 30 minutes after it started at 18:00, after some people were prevented from entering the meeting and were locked outside the gates of the school, allegedly by police and law enforcement officers. It is believed those who were prevented from entering were people from the local taxi industry.
Disruption
Xolisani Booi of the Thembalethu Community Forum said he doesn't understand why these people were prevented from entering, because they are also members of the community and have every right to be in the meeting. "It looks like the municipality is coming with some sort of trick to divide the community of Thembalethu and [that they] try to brainwash people. We find this very strange because we are busy negotiating as Thembalethu stakeholders on the roll-out of Phase 4, but the municipality goes behind our backs and calls a meeting without our knowledge."
Info meetings stopped
In response to George Herald's enquiries, municipal spokesperson Chantel EdwardsKlose said, in fact, two information meetings about the Phase 4 roll-out were cancelled on Tuesday evening due to "the aggressive nature of the disruption instigated by members of the Uncedo taxi association and the Thembalethu Community Forum". She said the decision "to disband the meetings" was made out of "concern for the safety of those facilitating and presenting at the meetings". According to Edwards-Klose, the security gate at Thembalethu Primary School where one of the meetings took place, closed automatically during the course of the meeting. "By the time this was realised, the situation had become threatening and it was decided not to open the gate again and jeopardise the safety of the people inside the venue. The level of aggression displayed was and is of great concern; the disrupters were brazen in their confrontation of the team and the police. Not reopening the gate was not intended to exclude members of the taxi industry. As a matter of fact, their representatives were noticed in both meetings," she said.
She also denied the allegation that the meetings were held "behind the backs" of the Forum. "Contrary to misinformation being spread on social media, both the Forum and Uncedo were fully informed about the planned meetings through continuous engagement by a governmental task team and were welcome to attend."
Uncedo denied any involvement by their executive in the disruption of the meeting, saying their executive and a number of their members were in a meeting at Thembalethu High School with the members of the Thembalethu Community Forum about the Phase 4 roll-out.
Roadshow
Booi said the Thembalethu Community Forum is currently on a roadshow across Thembalethu and in places such as Lawaaikamp to hear the views of the community on the roll-out of Phase 4 in their areas. He said the people have many issues with the roll-out and that the buses can't be introduced without solving past issues. "There are still outstanding matters such as the issue of permits. Taxi owners want to compete with the buses. We want to reopen the GO GEORGE negotiations, the moratorium on permits must be lifted, people must be allowed to renew the operating licences and to apply for new licenses. We also want the restructuring of GO GEORGE leadership to allow everyone to benefit from this project, not just a selected few," said Booi.
He added that the issue of Thembalethu roads also needs to be addressed before GO GEORGE can operate in Thembalethu.