Kebby lashes council jobs grab
THE Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) leader Kebby Maphatsoe has condemned people masquerading as MK veterans, demanding municipal jobs and interfering with government housing projects.
Maphatsoe, who is also Deputy Minister of Military Veterans, said people who illegally demanded houses and jobs should be criminally charged for contravening municipality service delivery processes.
MK was the ANC military wing that formed in 1961 after the ANC was banned.
Maphatsoe said that following the advent of democracy in 1994, the ANC government had promised to provide jobs, houses and social services to liberation soldiers.
The MKMVA was formed to represent former combatants.
Maphatsoe said as years passed, MKMVA members had become impatient, saying they had been waiting for far too long for the government to deliver on its promise.
But he said storming municipalities to demand jobs, as happened at the Durban City Hall on Tuesday, and taking over government housing projects, as has happened in several areas around the country, was not acceptable.
Recently, in Msunduzi municipality in Pietermaritzburg, MK vets invaded a portion of newly built low-cost flats and refused to pay rent.
Despite court orders to vacate the homes allocated to other people, the MK vets are still occupying several blocks of flats, demanding ownership.
The low-cost flats were built to benefit households earning between R2 000 and R7 500 per month.
The occupation has caused delays in awarding homes to approved beneficiaries.
Local resident Henry Dlamini, who had applied for a low-cost flat, said many people were angered by the actions of the MK vets.
Similar occupations have been reported on the KZN South Coast’s Ray Nkonyeni municipality (Port Shepstone). This municipality resorted to legal action after negotiations failed. More than a dozen MKMVA members were arrested and charged in the Port Shepstone Magistrate’s Court.
This week, MKMVA members brought the Durban City Hall to a standstill, demanding jobs from the municipality.
The municipality responded by awarding 80 members with general-assistant jobs.
Maphatsoe said the MKMVA leadership was concerned about alleged illegal activities, especially in KZN.
Opposition parties in ethekwini municipality have criticised the awarding of jobs to MKMVA’S vets following the storming of the City Hall.
Zwakele Mncwango of the DA said human resources process should always be fair and transparent. “If people get employed two days after they protested, when did they go through the HR recruitment processes? People who use violent tactics are being attended to. Is the mayor setting an example for other unemployed people to make a formation and hold the municipality hostage so that they can be employed?” asked Mncwango.
IFP Exco member Mdu Nkosi said the mayor and ANC were setting a dangerous precedent for others to also hold the municipality to ransom.
“We find ourselves in this situation because the ANC is making empty promises to the people,” Nkosi said.