Mass protest against failing Makana municipality

Hundreds of people protested against the dysfunctional Makana Municipality in Makhanda on Wednesday. Photo: Joseph Chirume

“These people cannot be trusted,” Archbishop of the Ethiopian Episcopal Church Nkosinathi Ngesi told a huge crowd at the Makhanda city hall on Wednesday.

He called for the immediate removal of Makana Mayor Yandiswa Vara, Speaker Mabhuti Matyumza and the chief financial officer Nomfundo Ntsangani.

“We are not compromising on that … because this morning they issued a circular that the protest has been suspended, which is a lie. Secondly, they have called business owners to a meeting to divide the community. The mayor does not come from this town. She is dismissing community public works employees and is busy threatening them,” he said.

Hundreds of people marched under the banner of Concerned Makhanda Residents. Students also participated after Rhodes University heeded a call for lectures to be suspended for the day, a decision not taken lightly, said acting Vice-Chancellor Kwezi Mzilikazi.

Rhodes University issued a statement saying the situation in Makhanda reflected a disregard for the dignity, well-being and rights of students and staff. It said continued water disruptions would determine its future actions, and noted the university is the biggest employer and ratepayer in the town.

Concerned Makhanda Residents said in a statement, “For too long Makana municipality has been experiencing political instability, maladministration, fraud and corruption, and service delivery collapse. Notwithstanding the fact that there was an unsuccessful attempt through litigation to dissolve the municipal council, the municipality continues to be a dysfunctional and a law-breaking municipality.”

Rhodes SRC president Siyanda Vilakazi said, “Our municipality is not doing what it should be; it’s failing to provide basic human rights, which is water.”

“Bathing has become a luxury, because there is no water to waste. Some people are buying bottled water to bathe,” a Joza resident told GroundUp.

A petition listed the decade-long water crisis; crumbling infrastructure, roads, sewers, community halls and sports fields; unlawful procurement contracts; unfunded budgets; the lack of disaster management, water development and spatial development plans; failure to publish contracts and committee meetings on the municipal website; millions in unauthorised and wasteful expenditure; unsafe and dilapidated buildings; the non-enforcement of by-laws, and the cemeteries not cleaned for ten years.

The petition was handed to Masilo Mokoena of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs who promised to deliver it to Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa.

The municipality had not answered our questions at the time of publication.

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