Diepsloot protest for jobs
DIEPSLOOT - Diepsloot residents expressed outrage that they were not offered jobs at a construction site near the informal settlement.
The community of Ext 12 gathered for their third day of protest and held up signs calling for jobs while they burnt tyres in the middle of the road.
Diepsloot resident Sharon Takalani said residents of Ext 12 were resentful that the contractors and local government had hired people they knew, and who were politically affiliated to them to work on a project just off of the R114.
Ward councillor of Ward 113 Abraham Mabuke said the Johannesburg Roads Agency project would cost R6 million. He said they had held three meetings, including one with the local community regarding the process of appointing a community officer in Diepsloot to liaise with the residents and mediate the interviewing process.
Protesters were enraged after Mabuke left after 10 minutes without addressing them, but he said the disruptions and protests near Ext 12 and 13 were allegedly instigated by residents who did not want to follow the hiring procedures.
An Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) member at the protest who did not want to be named, said the interviewing process was flawed and that jobs were only given to ANC supporters. Mabuke contested this claim and said EFF members have used this protest as an opportunity to discredit the ANC.
The protesters, however did not disclose their political affiliations and said the protest was community-oriented and not political.
