Roads blocked on the main road after a protest
Frustrations were written all over faces of workers traveling in their cars to work and pupils being transported to school.
Motorists traveling from the KwaGuqa Extensions were surprised to find out that the main road to the city has been blocked.
Frustrations were written all over faces of workers traveling in their cars to work and pupils being transported to school. Taxis and buses were all blocked near the KG Mall near Vosman on their way to the city. It is believed that the protestors were protesting for being unemployed and they want the mines and power stations to employ them not people from outside eMalahleni.
Members of the Unemployed Peoples Organisation (UPO) in a march from near Ackerville Stadium to the city to hand over the memorandum.
Executive mayor of eMalahleni Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali signing after receiving the memorandum from members of the Unemployed Peoples Organisation (UPO).
It said that the protest started in the early hours of Monday, morning on April 11 at about 02:30.
The protestors had a battle with the police and eventually blocked the N4 Highway. It was also reported that several cars were damaged including a bus. Unconfirmed reports said that even the Klarinet exit was blocked.
Later the roads were cleared as the protestors were transported by buses to hold their gathering near Ackerville Stadium and marched to hand over their memorandum to the city.
Members of the Unemployed Peoples Organisation (UPO) led the march from the stadium to the city to hand over the memorandum. Executive mayor of eMalahleni Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali together with officials from the Department of Labour and Kusile received the memorandum; other departments were not present to receive the memorandum.
In the memorandum they stated that with the steel company shutting down, Samancor Chrome about to retrench around 150 of its workers, Eskom Kusile demobilising the unskilled workers which most of them are local residents, Exxaro Inyanda Coal Mine shutting down, the national minimum living wage bill, employees are threatened more and more thus increasing the already skyrocketing unemployment rate in the city. They then demanded certain issues to be met and be implemented with immediate effect to secure and preserve the little that is available at their disposal.
Mr Zwelakhe Skosana and Mr Vusi Silawu both representing Kusile Power Station signing the memorandum from Sunday Mahlangu secretary general of Unemployed Peoples Organisation (UPO).
Burning tyres after a protest of blocking the road near the KG Mall in Vosman on Monday morning, April 11.
The protestors demanded that a job summit be convened between the community, municipality and the CEO’s of all the mining industries, power stations and all businesses operating within the jurisdiction of the municipality as it was stated in the IDP draft that was adopted in the council chambers of 2015/16 instead of the business and cooperative summit that was hosted and was fruitless therefore they demand non fancy and a less costly but fruitful job summit with 75% job opportunities secured and preserved for the community.
Their second demand was directed to the Department of Health to employ locals in the entry level thus creating job opportunities instead of parachuting a general worker from surrounding regions. They also demanded that community structures be given the mandate to verify candidates that are recruited by the department in the entry level.
Their third demand was that all industries operating within the jurisdiction of eMalahleni local municipality must buy electricity direct from municipality, if not the community must buy direct from Eskom, if not they demanded a flat rate of R300 per household.
They also demanded that any project given by the municipality or private sector under the jurisdiction of eMalahleni municipality the contractor or sub contractor must know that 75% is reserved and protected for the locals nearby where the project is based workforce must be mobilised from the community structure of the unemployed (UPO). They also demanded that Kusile Power Station must begin to give training to young people who will be permanently employed by Eskom after the project construction period. One of their demands was that Kusile Project must be transparent when doing recruitment and outline all process for the communities to know. They also demanded that the workgroup be disbanded as it does nothing for the community of eMalahleni. They demanded that Kusile and contractors must stop to give employment opportunities to individuals and the CLO’s but they must channel them through the community structures specifically those who are in the unemployment criteria, then they will populate them in a strategic manner including their constituencies.
Cars passing near tyres which have been burned near the traffic circle in Vosman after the main road was blocked.
Traffic moving after the main road near KG Mall was opened by the police after a protest on Monday morning, April 11.
One of the issues raised was that of skills transfer, they demanded that for all industries operating within the jurisdiction of our eMalahleni local municipality a report must be made available for the communities on how many people that have received skills transfer from the experts are employed by their business including Eskom Kusile Project so far. They want to see a system to make sure that skills are transferred and there must be recognised documentation thereof to equip young people to get work in future projects. Another demand was that Kusile give a list of skills that will be needed by the power station in the future.
“We demand that eMalahleni Recruitment Task Team be established to facilitate recruitment processes in all industries, projects and power station operating within the jurisdiction of eMalahleni local municipality. We also demand full engagement with the Department of Labour not their acts and policies that they bypass whenever it suits them. Community structures must be informed in terms of an entry level or general positions that are available within the department before they can be advertised or captured in their provincial system. We demand that Anglo Coal create more job opportunities for the locals and projects be considered as another form to address the increasing number of unemployment. Training of the unskilled youth and to be considered as a community mouth piece,” they added.
In accepting the memorandum executive mayor of eMalahleni Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali promised that they will jointly with the other departments respond to the demands and called their leaders to a meeting.
