PORT St Johns came to a virtual standstill yesterday when members of the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) and South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) blockaded roads and forced shops to close during a service delivery protest.
Motorists travelling to Port St Johns were forced to turn around, while others waited for hours for the protests to fizzle out.
The protesters said they were outraged by the lack of service delivery and corruption in the municipality and blockaded roads with old tyres that were set alight. Wielding knobkerries and pangas, the hostile crowd also smashed bottles in the road as they continued their protest action.
The police’s Mthatha riot control unit was called to the scene but could do little as the crowd refused to disperse saying they were willing to be shot by police. One man in the crowd shouted: “We will die here, we are going to turn this place into Marikana.”
Late yesterday afternoon shots were fired at the protesters after an altercation with the police but no one was injured. Sanco regional secretary Zamekila Pato said the Port St Johns community was “sick and tired” of alleged corruption in the municipality and lack of service delivery. Samwu joined the strike to protest against alleged nepotism and what they say is the illegal dismissal of two of the union’s leaders.
“There is no development in this municipality whatsoever. We heard that funds were allocated for the fixing of roads and that the funds were used for that project – we are surprised to see huge potholes in the road while the municipality claims to have used millions of rands on road infrastructure,” said Pato.
He accused the municipality of spending millions paying lawyers to take action against its own employees, instead of using the money for service delivery. “We still pay two municipal managers, one is working illegally as acting municipal manager while the other is not allowed into the municipality but still earning his monthly salary. What do you call that?” he asked.
“We are not going to stop until the provincial leaders come to address us and remove the mayor from his position,” said Pato.
Samwu leader in the town, Lebo Mangxa, said their members too wanted the ANC to intervene.
“Corruption is so rife in the municipality, we have people who hire their relatives and girlfriends as personal assistants. People who do not have qualifications are appointed without due processes and this has been overlooked,” said Mangxa.
The mayor Mnyamezeli Mangqo and council Speaker Thandisizwe Khukhula, whose names were chanted during the protests were nowhere to be seen.
Municipal manager Fundisile Guleni had to run for his life as the situation reached boiling point at the municipality premises. He was eventually rescued by police and hid inside a police nyala after he had earlier allegedly threatened ANC chief whip Phikolomzi Langa.
Langa alleged Guleni had told police they should arrest and beat him (Langa) up. “I think some people overheard him saying that hence this chaos,” said Langa.
ANC ‘s OR Tambo regional secretary Lulama Ngcukayithobi said they would address the workers’ grievances as early as 8am today.
“We will also engage with Sanco regarding service delivery matters.”
Speaking at a workshop in East London earlier this week, office of the premier deputy director-general Mahlubandile Qwase said government institutions needed to improve audit outcomes to better service delivery. — Additional reporting by Msindisi Fengu
Threat to turn EC town ‘ into a Marikana’
Motorists travelling to Port St Johns were forced to turn around, while others waited for hours for the protests to fizzle out.
The protesters said they were outraged by the lack of service delivery and corruption in the municipality and blockaded roads with old tyres that were set alight. Wielding knobkerries and pangas, the hostile crowd also smashed bottles in the road as they continued their protest action.
The police’s Mthatha riot control unit was called to the scene but could do little as the crowd refused to disperse saying they were willing to be shot by police. One man in the crowd shouted: “We will die here, we are going to turn this place into Marikana.”
Late yesterday afternoon shots were fired at the protesters after an altercation with the police but no one was injured. Sanco regional secretary Zamekila Pato said the Port St Johns community was “sick and tired” of alleged corruption in the municipality and lack of service delivery. Samwu joined the strike to protest against alleged nepotism and what they say is the illegal dismissal of two of the union’s leaders.
“There is no development in this municipality whatsoever. We heard that funds were allocated for the fixing of roads and that the funds were used for that project – we are surprised to see huge potholes in the road while the municipality claims to have used millions of rands on road infrastructure,” said Pato.
He accused the municipality of spending millions paying lawyers to take action against its own employees, instead of using the money for service delivery. “We still pay two municipal managers, one is working illegally as acting municipal manager while the other is not allowed into the municipality but still earning his monthly salary. What do you call that?” he asked.
“We are not going to stop until the provincial leaders come to address us and remove the mayor from his position,” said Pato.
Samwu leader in the town, Lebo Mangxa, said their members too wanted the ANC to intervene.
“Corruption is so rife in the municipality, we have people who hire their relatives and girlfriends as personal assistants. People who do not have qualifications are appointed without due processes and this has been overlooked,” said Mangxa.
The mayor Mnyamezeli Mangqo and council Speaker Thandisizwe Khukhula, whose names were chanted during the protests were nowhere to be seen.
Municipal manager Fundisile Guleni had to run for his life as the situation reached boiling point at the municipality premises. He was eventually rescued by police and hid inside a police nyala after he had earlier allegedly threatened ANC chief whip Phikolomzi Langa.
Langa alleged Guleni had told police they should arrest and beat him (Langa) up. “I think some people overheard him saying that hence this chaos,” said Langa.
ANC ‘s OR Tambo regional secretary Lulama Ngcukayithobi said they would address the workers’ grievances as early as 8am today.
“We will also engage with Sanco regarding service delivery matters.”
Speaking at a workshop in East London earlier this week, office of the premier deputy director-general Mahlubandile Qwase said government institutions needed to improve audit outcomes to better service delivery. — Additional reporting by Msindisi Fengu
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