Hundreds of protesting residents last Monday took to the streets in Riverlea Extension, demanding better services and the resignation of their Democratic Alliance (DA) ward councillor, Lynette Pretorius.
The protesters closed roads and burnt tyres, this in the latest series of protests in the area.
Riverlea Extension is one of the few council wards in Joburg that are run by the DA.
The party’s Johannesburg caucus leader, Vasco da Gama, was quick to jump to her defence, saying the protests smacked of political instigation by the African National Congress (ANC).
“The protest in that area has been targeted towards a ward councillor and it is individuals that are ANC-aligned. They continuously disrupt her meetings, and last week a meeting was disrupted where she was also attacked,” said da Gama.
“Apart from the real lack of service-delivery in the area, there is the demand for the removal of the ward councillor. As an additional layer, is the unrest which has been fermented by a few people,” said Graham De Kock, chief whip for the DA
Residents have said that a lack of police presence and recreational facilities for children had given rise to drug use.
Da Gama said the office of the council speaker was providing security for Pretorius after the physical attack on her at last week’s public meeting with residents.
Stalin de Vos, a resident, dismissed Da Gama’s claim of political instigation as “talking rubbish”.
“For the years she has been in her position, she (Pretorius) has done nothing. There is no issue of another party. I am also a DA person myself. If this councillor can’t do her job she must go,” said De Vos.
ANC Gauteng spokesman Dumisa Ntuli said the DA was “playing a blame game” instead of addressing the community’s issues with them.
Ebrahim Fakir, manager of the political parties and parliamentary support programme, said whether protests were instigated or not, they all stemmed from genuine, reasonable demands that should not be ignored.
He said anger could often be channelled in the wrong direction.
“Protest demands are genuine. At times people might ask for issues to be resolved that are outside of a ward councillor’s power. While they might have power in ward committees and with integrated development projects, major infrastructure is under the power of the city council.” said Fakir.
Fakir said more protests could be expected in the run-up to the local government elections but that intra-party conflict would be a conspiring factor in most of them.
“As far as councillor Pretorius is concerned, the community has lodged a complaint/petition with the City regarding their problems with her conduct and that process has its own time-frames and set procedures. The same applies to the internal processes to address the very same issues. The minister is the only person who can remove the councillor from office and that can only occur once the procedural steps have been concluded. In both instances, due to the legal necessities, the time taken to reach a conclusion has been far longer than anyone’s expectation,” said De Kock.
