“No truck or machine will leave this site until our demands are met.”
This was the message from residents of wards 5, 6 and 9 in Joza earlier this week as they continued their sit-in at the Makana Way upgrade project site, calling for the decision makers to remove “illegitimately employed” workers and replace them with those chosen by the relevant communities.
Grocott’s Mail reported this week that the project had been at a standstill for two days as angry residents, who accused certain Makana Municipality councillors and other project role players of corruption, nepotism and dishonesty, halted it on Monday.
Joza residents stage sit-in at the Makana Way upgrade site this week, making claims of corruption and nepotism pertaining to employment processes followed in the project. Photo: Luvuyo Mjekula
The young and old community members claimed that two people currently employed in the project were not chosen by the community through the correct processes.
In fact, ward 5 residents said they did not have a legitimate project steering committee.
On Tuesday evening, Makana Municipality ward 5 councillor and Infrastructure MMC Gcobisa Mene met with her constituency at the Extension 9 community hall and a new committee of two members was elected.
However, while the residents welcomed the election, they accused Mene of failing to heed their call to remove two women currently working in the project and replace them with the two women elected at the community meeting.
Makana Municipality ward 5 and Infrastructure MMC Gcobisa Mene addresses residents at the Makana Way upgrade site this week. Photo: Luvuyo Mjekula
Mene explained to the residents that the two women were part of the group of 20 that had been put forward by the different wards. She said the other 18 would be employed as the upgrade unfolded in phases.
However, the angry residents were not convinced and resolved to continue their sit-in from 6.30am on Wednesday.
When Grocott’s Mail arrived at the site at about 8am, a group of residents had gathered.
One resident shouted: “No truck or machine will leave this site until our demands are met.”
During the sit-in, the owner of one of the TLBs that sat idle at the site, arrived and requested the residents to allow him to remove his machine, which he had rented out to one of the subcontracted companies. He wanted to put it to use elsewhere, he explained.
Also present at the site on Wednesday was ward 6 councillor Vuyani Jezi. He told Grocott’s Mail that he heard the residents’ communication but that there had been a communication breakdown between the community and the municipality. “It is our responsibility as councillors to resolve these issues.”
Ward 5 residents attending a meeting with their ward councillor, Gcobisa Mene at the Extension 9 community hall on Tuesday evening. Photo: Kamvelihle Wonci
He said he would hold a meeting with the residents and hoped that the deadlock would have been resolved by the end of the meeting.
Grocott’s Mail also spoke to Ndabezinhle Mabuya, the site manager of Luzuko Trading Enterprise, trading as LTE Civils and Plants, the company contracted for the project.
Mabuya pointed out that the situation was not ideal for the Johannesburg-based company and the project. “I think it is unfortunate because we are here to work. Standing Time to us has cost implications. So, it is not an ideal situation for us, we wish it could end as soon as possible.”
He said the official start of the project was 27 June. The actual construction started about six weeks ago. He said they started hearing rumours of a possible protest last week.
Mabuya said they understood the residents may have valid concerns. “So, we cannot say because want to see production, therefore people must not protest. From our end, we would like this to be resolved as quickly as possible.
“If there are legitimate issues that need to be sorted out, because we are going to be here for many more months and we are still going to employ other people. We can’t have these kinds of problems. They need to be dealt with correctly so they don’t happen in future. It is worrisome to us.”
Mabuya said the company does not get involved in the recruitment or selection of local workers. “We are not involved in the issues that people might be having. We bring our own skilled people, like myself, the foreman, the clerk. We employ general labourers (the people the residents are complaining about), but we have no say who should be selected.”
Mene had said every day there was no work on the project, the municipality still had to pay thousands of rand.
