The paving project taking place in the old part of Joza known as C Section came to a halt on Tuesday morning when residents from the area toyi-toyed near the site saying it is their project and that they should be employed for it.
The paving project taking place in the old part of Joza known as C Section came to a halt on Tuesday morning when residents from the area toyi-toyed near the site saying it is their project and that they should be employed for it.
Zanky Mahlahla, the secretary of the ANC sub-region who represents the residents, stated that Zithulele Gumenge has been appointed as the Community Liaison Officer without their knowledge. "The community must have been given a chance to nominate three people they were happy with and those would go for interviews so the right candidate could be chosen," she added. Andile Konjwa, a C Section resident said, "Gumenge is always part of all the projects that are done in Ward 6, this is because of his relations with councillor Mantla, they are best friends and both are members of Cope." When Gumenge was approached he said he does not wish to comment on the matter.
The residents vowed that the project will come to a halt if they do not get jobs. This was clear when on Wednesday morning community members arrived at the construction site armed with spades and closed all the holes the contractors had previously dug up. They did this because they say their representatives said no work would be done on the site until a resolution is reached. Ward 6 councillor Zonwabele Mantla voiced his concerns saying, "If the representatives of these residents had a vision for service delivery, they would let the project continue concurrently with the negotiations." Mahlahla would not hear of this and said, "We cannot let the project continue because it did not go according to procedure. For one, there’s no project steering committee and the community is not involved."
The residents are also complaining that people from the neighbouring Extension 4 do not deserve to be part of the project. Mlungisi Dilitwana of C Section said, "I was hired at Extension 4 to work in the paving project and the community members chased me away saying it is their project and I do not deserve to work there."
Mantla agreed that this was the case but in the end not only people from Extension 4 were hired to work on the project. Mahlahla said "Residents from other areas were assured that they would get jobs in their respective areas and that they should not worry about what was happening at Extension 4" but that this has not happened as promised. "Correct procedures should have been followed and the municipality should have stuck to the agreement," she concluded. The residents said they want to request a meeting with all the involved parties which should be conducted through Dabula Njilo’s office in his capacity as Makana technical and infrastructural services director. Mantla contacted them and scheduled a meeting for Thursday morning at 11am but he didn’t arrive. This leads to the residents insisting that no paving can continue until their demands have been met.
