Tshwane mayor apologises after Hammanskraal meeting descends into chaos
· Citizen
City of Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya has apologised for the chaos in Hammanskraal when a small group of individuals disrupted a community meeting on Monday, after the mayor didn’t arrive.
“Batho ba Hammanskraal, I am so deeply sorry for what happened,” said Moya yesterday. “I was running late from an imbizo with informal traders and asked MMC Frans Boshielo to start in the meantime.
Visit freshyourfeel.com for more information.
“I was on my way when I was informed that it had to be adjourned for safety reasons.”
Moya said it wasn’t out of disrespect at all.
City condemns disruptive behaviour
MMC for community safety Hannes Coetzee said the public meeting in Hammanskraal was disrupted and postponed in the interest of public safety.
The meeting, which was to take place at Makgoba Sebothoma Hall, was about to start when a small group of individuals disrupted proceedings through aggressive and unlawful behaviour.
“In the interest of public safety, the meeting was adjourned and has been postponed until further notice,” Coetzee said.
“The city strongly condemns the conduct of those who sought to disrupt a lawful platform for community engagement.”
Coetzee warned that any criminal damage to infrastructure, illegal connections, intimidation or disruption of municipal processes will be dealt with firmly by the Tshwane Metro Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.
“As the political head of region 2, I acknowledge the leadership of the utility services team, led by MMC for utility services Frans Boshielo, and all officials who were present to account and engage with residents,” he said.
Residents vent frustration over water issues
Hammanskraal resident Theunis Vogel said residents were blaming the mayor and the MMC and accused the city of placing water trucks in the area instead of contractors to fix the underlying water problem.
“They say Tshwane is lying and deceiving them about the water that is not yet ready and say they are now trying to bribe them to put in water trucks, but they want piped water.”
Vogel said some members of the community said they were going to burn the trucks.
“All Tshwane trucks have to now travel with a TMPD vehicle, but what is the cost of that and is it considered as extra security?” he said.
Nothing has changed in Hammanskraal, Vogel said. “It’s the same thing, the dam wall on Rooiwal has broken and our dams are flooded with sewage sludge.”
Water tankers spending concerns
Over the weekend, DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink said that in the year Moya took office, the spending on water tankers to formalised areas exploded from R140 million under the DA to R777 million under the ANC coalition.
Brink has accused the city of spending more money trucking water than fixing pipes and upgrading infrastructure that would give people water in their taps.
“By now, we could’ve completed the project to get clean water into the taps of Hammanskraal, Metsi Dipompong instead of Metsi Ditankeng.
“And we know who benefits from these water tanker contracts,” Brink said.