Talks with Bekkersdal residents fall flat
Residents accused the minister of not addressing their core demands.
Talks between the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Lechesa Tsenoli and residents of Bekkersdal fell flat when residents walked out on the minister after an eight-hour long meeting.
This was on 3 November at the West Rand District Municipality in Randfontein and comes after Tsenoli expressed concern about the manner in which the protest actions were carried out in the area and the reasons for the protests.
Residents accused Tsenoli of ignoring their demands and the actual issues in Bekkersdal and instead concentrating on other, less important matters.
They reiterated their original demands for Westonaria Executive Mayor, Nokoliso Tundzi to step down and for the Westonaria Local Municipality to be disbanded or placed under administration.
At the meeting, Tsenoli said that he cannot place the Westanoria Municipality under administration without a concrete reason.
According to community leader Thabang Wesi, the meeting was fruitless and it failed to yield any solutions from the minister.
“We stayed in the meeting for eight hours and it was all in vain.
“The minister was not interested in addressing our core demands and that on its own shows that he is not interested in tackling the problem at hand.
“Subsequently, we had to leave the meeting because clearly we could not reach any consensus,” says Wesi.
The failed meeting resulted in frustrated residents of Bekkersdal once again taking to the streets.
They even went as far as attacking the Bekkersdal police station with bricks.
They damaged eight police vehicles and two private cars that were in the vicinity of the building.
Fortunately no one sustained any injuries.
The Westonaria SAPS spokesperson Thembi Masango has confirmed that no one was arrested following the attack.
“We as the police condemn any violence and damage to public property,” says Masango.
