Sabotage and anarchy killing once-thriving Highveld towns

DULLSTROOM – In a desperate attempt to save four towns in Mpumalanga from becoming ghost towns, the Emakhazeni Good Governance Forum (EGGF), called upon not only the minister of cooperative governance and traditional Affairs, Mr Pravin Gordhan, but also on the president Mr Jacob Zuma to intervene.

Dullstroom, Belfast, Machadodorp and Waterval Boven fall under the Emakhazeni Local Municipality (ELM) and have been struggling to keep head above water for nearly a year as numerous strikes continued to cripple economic growth and daily activities. Things reached boiling point two weeks ago when Middelburg’s special task force had to intervene in Dullstroom. A honeysucker was set alight and strikers marched in the streets, littering the main road with rubbish and attempting to prevent vehicles from passing through the town. Police opened fire with rubber bullets to disperse protesters.

The SANDF also deployed a small force to protect the Dullstroom Dam and water treatment plant as a number of sabotage incidents at the plant was noted. Business owners told Lowvelder on a visit to the various towns that they feared the water would be poisoned and therefore had to make use of the “army boys” from Waterval Boven – providing food for them at their own expense. “In Belfast, the town was without potable water for a number of days and sewage spilled into streams feeding the main dams,” the EGGF said. According to the conservancy, tank clearing services had come to a standstill and residents in some parts of the municipality had been warned to boil water before using it as the purification plants were left unattended. The EGGF confirmed that members of the community had to patrol key strategic water-related installations in Dullstroom. “The local security company employed by the municipality is totally ineffective and beat a hasty retreat whenever strikers appear.” According to them a discussion with the local and cluster SAPS wasn’t productive either due to the police’s shortage of vehicles and manpower. ELM’s mayor,

Clr Xolani Sydney Ngwenya, confirmed the above-mentioned problem with regards to the SAPS and said that all four stations had been extremely slow to respond. “The most critical and painful thing for us is that the police, as a law-enforcement agency, are completely mum about the situation. It seems as if they have a view in the matter without understanding the real problem.” According to him the provincial SAPS had been informed about the situation, but hadn’t done anything yet to bring about change. “The province is aware of the situation in Emakhazeni, but unfortunately we haven’t seen any action.

“The Emakhazeni police is highly politicised,” he said. Lowvelder didn’t receive any official comment from the provincial SAPS at the time of going to print. Ngwenya further denied allegations that the reason for workers to go on strike was related to the appointment of the technical manager, Mr Lucas Sindane and municipal manager, Ms Thandi Shoba. He did however acknowledge that conflict between Sindane and the strikers existed and said the last strike in December was carried out in an attempt to remove the technical manager. During the visit, staff told Lowvelder that Sindane was too strict as he had brought disciplinary charges against 10 staff members.

This added fuel to the fire and they went on strike again. ELM obtained a court order just before Christmas, requiring the strikers to return to work within 48 hours, which they didn’t adhere to. Ngwenya said there were staff members who followed a “Malema style” approach and it was the cause of the trouble. One of the biggest problems was that strikers demanded pay while they were on strike illegally.

“We work on a no-work, no-pay principle. We are guided by law, but that is not how the strikers see it.

“They keep on striking when we deduct money from their salaries for the days they did not work. “They want their money and they want to function in a lawlessness environment,” he said. According to him all the cases opened by the municipality against the strikers had not been treated properly, but he said that those opened by workers against management had been taken very seriously.

“It is very unfortunate. My understanding is that people don’t have the right to distract other people’s lives. Is it not a criminal offence when people litter and block the streets without permission? In other areas the police will act, but here they don’t. In fact, they are enjoying it. “The police are now politicians. Our relationship with them is a professional one. We are not related on the basis of liking. When we take our responsibility, we take an oath. We say that we will do our work in a diligent and honest manner, and not compromise those we are serving. If I take an oath, I will do everything to serve the people.”

Ngwenya issued his sincere apology to the public for the disruption of services and said it had not been their intention. He however added that the public needed to understand that the environment they were operating in was difficult. In the meanwhile, as the power struggle continues and service delivery is failing residents, businesses are struggling to survive. A well-known business owner in Dullstroom acknowledged this, saying she couldn’t understand how only 24 people could manage to cripple a town.

According to Ms Anita Minnaar of the Rose Cottage in Dullstroom, they had seen many businesses closing their doors due to the strikes. She said it was as if the strikers were targeting businesses in particular.

“They are terrorising us,” she said, adding that two protesters threatened to kill her during one of the protests. She however managed to fend them off with a broomstick.

Various courses of action were recently put on the table when Minnaar called a meeting with business owners and residents to discuss the way forward. Obtaining a High Court order against the SA commissioner of police and the minister, forcing them to ensure the protection of strategic assets, were among the options tabled.

The cost associated with obtaining such an order are likely to be around R80 000 and businesses were requested to contribute R1 000 each towards this fund. Another possibility is to declare a formal dispute with the municipality and cease paying rates and service charges with immediate effect. A draft letter of dispute have already been made available on the EGGF’s website.

According to Minnaar the assisting of AfriForum had also been called in and that the possibility of secession was under discussion. Minnaar said that residents, and especially business owners in Dullstroom were working around the clock to keep business running and prevent the town from getting a ghost town status, such as was the case in Waterval Boven, as they were dependent on tourists visiting their town.

Shot fired in Belfast during municipal workers industrial action

According to Mr Peter St Clair, chairman of the EGGF, the technical manager, Mr Lucas Sindane drew a firearm and discharged a shot at the end of last year when municipal workers stormed his offices. This apparently happened after deductions on salaries of striking workers were made by ELM. According to St Clair the workers managed to take the firearm from him which was later handed in at the Belfast Police Station. A formal charge was laid in respect of the illegal discharge of a firearm. The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) confirmed the incident, adding that Sindane started swearing at the shop stewards claiming that management decided not to pay the workers and the only thing that was left for them to do was to shoot them. Samwu said that a case of attempted murder had been opened against Sindane.

Ngwenya said he heard people talking about it, but he was not present. “I believe there are two sides to a story, hence we asked the police to help us get to the bottom of the matter.”