Community blocks R3-million park project, demands public participation

Residents say land identified for a public park is too near a river and a busy road. Photo: Manqulo Nyakombi

• Businesses and residents of Tsomo in the Eastern Cape have stopped a R3-million project to build a park.
• They say they were never consulted by the Intsika Yethu Municipality and the site chosen is too close to a busy road and to the Tsomo River.
• Last month the Tsomo Stakeholders Forum told workers on the site to go home and sent back a truck carrying materials.
• The municipality says there was proper consultation and, anyway, the municipality doesn’t have to consult residents on every project.

Business owners and residents in Tsomo in the Eastern Cape have blocked work on a new R3-million municipal public park near the Tsomo River. They say they were never consulted about the site and the land identified for the park is wet and too close to the R409.

Intsika Yethu Local Municipality spokesperson Zuko Tshangana said the land had been identified by the municipality in partnership with the provincial Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism. He said the plan had been presented to residents in August 2023 and during roadshows.

But residents and the Tsomo Stakeholders Forum, which consists of community leaders, taxi bosses and businesses, say they were never consulted, and the municipality only came to them to introduce the contractor hired for the project.

Forum chairperson Simamkele Qwele said they had made it clear they did not approve of the site. He said the R409 is a busy road. Just last month three people died after a car plunged into the Tsomo River, he said. Police confirmed this to GroundUp.

Also, he said, people performed rituals in the Tsomo River, especially during the initiation process, and they needed to be considered.

He said instead of listening to objections, municipal officials had sent workers to cut the trees.

The forum had decided on 26 September, to stop the project, said Qwele. The workers had been told to leave and a truck delivering material had been blocked from entering the site.

At a meeting on 8 October, officials from the department, the municipality and representatives of the forum held a meeting near the river. Municipal Speaker Yanga Zicina told residents that as government the municipality does not need to consult them on every project.

He said as municipality leaders they have every right to decide where they want to build a project and residents should let them lead as they appointed them as their leaders.

Qwele said residents do want the park but not near the river. But Zicina refused to consider other sites.

Representing the taxi industry, Ngubesilo Lusithi told Zicina that a public participation was not done and the views they raised last year were not considered.

Resident Baxolile Khetha said the municipality is rushing to build this park but they are not talking about the sewer problem in the town. “We hear that they are also going to build toilets in that park but there’s no sewer system. Meaning the sewer will go to Tsomo river and we are drinking that water when our taps are dry,” he said.

An official from the department, Mncedisi Makhosonke, said 100 people had been hired for the project but it had been on hold since last month.

Makhosonke said residents made valid points and it was wrong for the municipality not to consult them. He said he would report back to the department and consider residents’ views.

Zicina agreed to start a public participation process but did not say when.

He said if the municipality had decided to go ahead with the project on the site nothing would stop them.

Residents leave the proposed site of the park after a meeting with officials last week. Photo: Manqulo Nyakombi

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