MEC issues stern warning to violent protesters
This comes in the wake of an ongoing provincial assessment which estimates that the damage to public property is around R65 million owing to violent protest actions.
Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements Ntombi Mekgwe has issued a stern warning to communities to stop torching public facilities during protest actions as the replacement value of such facilities is escalating and making it difficult for government to rebuild immediately.
This also comes in the wake of an ongoing provincial assessment which estimates that the damage to public property is around R65 million.
The amount is set to rise due to outstanding reports and ongoing trends.
According to Mekgwe, this hampers the process of service delivery overall and causes delays in the rebuilding of such facilities which could results in communities being seriously disadvantaged for many years to come.
“Whilst we understand the public’s right to peaceful protests, the torching of public buildings is a crime.
“It is illegal and unacceptable and has to stop immediately.
“If it continues we will reach a stage where all facilities in our societies are ruined to the detriment of us as the people.
“These violent protest actions have also reversed key successes achieved over the years and add further financial strain to the provincial coffers,” says Mekgwe.
She adds that as the provincial government assesses the losses and implications of these damages, it is becoming very clear that the consequences of such violent service delivery protest actions will have long-term negative effects for the affected communities.
According to her, this is mainly because funds needed to rebuild torched public buildings are not budgeted for and could result in most communities waiting for years to regain services.
According to Mekgwe, the cost of fixing damaged municipal property in Bekkersdal has escalated and now stands at an estimated a R20 million.
This includes the community hall, gymnasium, council offices, business hub, clinic, local business training centre, farmer support centre and the Multipurpose Centre (MPCC), which were all damaged during recent violent service delivery protests.
According to the statement, some of these buildings (MPCC, local business centre, farmer support centre and information hub) had just been restored last year at a cost of R4.5million, when they were damaged during the latest protests.
This was the third time that the Multipurpose Centre was burnt down.
“This time the damage is so devastating that we will never be able to restore it again,” says Mekgwe.
“We have no choice but to demolish the entire structure,” commented a project manager on site.
The Multipurpose Centre housed various government departments such as the departments of Home Affairs, Health and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), as well as the local Emergency Services and the the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO).
According to Mekgwe, each department had officials working in the centre providing services to the community.
“The centre was always frequented by the youth, job seekers, young mothers, the elderly and many members of the community wanting to apply for identity documents, birth certificates, and death registrations or just to access social grants.
“Now that the centre is no more, the community is forced to travel to town in Randfontein and to find money to spend on transport.
“The local Emergency Service has also been relocated, something which could affect the response time for emergencies in the township.
“These are some of the things that assisted in empowering the community, created jobs and income for local citizens and were also used to the benefit of the community at large but now they are destroyed,” says Mekgwe.
