Some of Ward 21 residents which is made-up of Sections B, C and D accused Ward Councilor, Thandi Mpenyana of not following the right procedure when appointing community members for a new road contract.
They claim that they were not informed about the new project which began on Monday, January 30 and they were surprised to see the project running without their knowledge.
“We were not informed about the project and there are more Section C people than people of the other sections.
“We demand that the project stops working immediately and the whole process starts afresh by holding a meeting which the whole community wiill be present and the project will be announced to the whole community clearly.
“We want to know how much it costs and what processes were followed in hiring the Community Liason Officer and why other people received SMSes about the project and the majority didn’t,” explained one annonymous member of the protesters.
On Thursday January 31 the residents went to the worksite where they protested and disrupted the work, afterwards it was agreed that the councillor and the community will have a meeting where they can try to solve their issues.
On Saturday the parties met, but without an agreement leading to some residents blocking the councillors car from leaving the place and the matter was reported to the police.
The police arrested four people who appeared before the Nkowankowa Magistrate Court on Monday on charges of malicous damage to property.
The case was remanded to March 15 for further investigations, but this did not stop the community from protesting further as after the court appearance the residents burned tyres, blocking the streets and vandalising the worksite.
Meanwhile in Ward 19 which comprises of Section A and B, the residents also protested on Thursday January 31 to be hired for the road project which Ward 21 was also protesting for.
The chaos started when Councillor Homegirl Zandamela told the group that they will employ 24 people, which will be taken from both Section A and B (12 from each section).
The Section B inhabitants refuses to share employment with the other section.
“As Section B dwellers we are saying we cannot work with Section A people, because everytime there are projects only Section A people are employed.
“Section A locals, must work in their area and we will work in our own area, they cannot come and work in our area,” explained Conny Makokga, Section B dweller.
Makokga also claim that everytime there is community projects the same poeple are always working and other people are not given a chance.
The mayhem was stopped by the Ritavi Police officers who came with the councillor and the two parties enganged in talks where they agreed to meet on Sunday, but the meeting was also in vain as they also did not agree.
“The councillor still said the has to be 12 people from each section, this does not work with us,”
Neville Ndlala, Greater Tzaneen Municipality Spokesman, said that the councillors followed the right hiring procedures and there is nothing wrong which they did.
“The law requires that people must share jobs, if Section A doesnt have projects this year, does it mean that they won’t have a chance to work, it doesnt make sense.
“We must learn to work together and know that when other projects comes, a different group will have to be given a chance to work,”concluded Ndlala.
On Thursday, February 7 the complaining Ward 21 residents met with representatives from the Greater Tzaneen Municpality together with some ANC branch members with hopes of a resolution.
The parties all agreed to start the process from stretch, but they will keep six people who were already hired and they will hire 30 more people from the ward.
Meanwhile the complaining Ward 19 residents will meet with the councillor and other community leaders for a way forward on Sunday, February 10.
