President Ramaphosa called unruly crowd to order at Vaal Imbizo

President Cyril Ramaphosa stamped his authority on an unruly imbizo in Sharpeville in the Vaal Triangle, telling the crowd “this is my space”, as he calmed them down.

Ramaphosa intervened to run the meeting himself when a group of four uniformed pupils refused to listen to Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga, who was programme director.

She refused to allow the boys to monopolise proceedings while the adults were waiting to ask questions.

Some of the pupils tried to shout down Motshekga before Ramaphosa stood up to preside over the gathering himself.

Both Ramaphosa and Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan told those gathered at the Sharpeville cricket stadium for the fourth presidential imbizo that there were many people who connected illegally to the power grid, which caused the transformers to stall, resulting in power failure.

“We are addressing these problems one by one, we are [tackling] various issues relating to the implementation district development model,” Ramaphosa said.

He appealed to residents to take a stand against vandalism of infrastructure, including the them to the real masterminds of the unrest.

“It is important for the people to … draw a line and say no to the vandalism of public infrastructure. More importantly, we must expose those we know are damaging our infrastructure,” he said.

The district of more than 200 000 households used to be a key industrial hub, but many industries had folded due to economic challenges.

Ramaphosa announced ambitious plans to develop agriculture, logistics, tourism and industries. These plans pivoted around the Vaal Special Economic Zone to be built in the area which, it was hoped, would create many jobs for the local people.

It was designed to promote export-oriented industries and local integration and would be built over 3 000 hectares in the Sedibeng district.

The presidency said the district development model would prioritise social partnerships and collaboration with all sectors of society and communities in addressing service delivery obstructions. Ramaphosa has previously held imbizos in Mahikeng in the North West, Bloemfontein in the Free State and Carolina in Mpumalanga.

– ericn@citizen.co.za