Eastern Cape: Service delivery protests

[MickeyD]

Plenty happening... amongst others the main road between PE and Uitenhage is blocked with burning barricades.

And then they have just set alight the municipal offices in Kirkwood.

 

[ToxicBunny]

I still absolutely adore the "logic"

We are protesting about the lack of service, so we will burn down the offices responsible for even beginning to make service delivery happen.

 

[Hemps]

I still absolutely adore the "logic"

We are protesting about the lack of service, so we will burn down the offices responsible for even beginning to make service delivery happen.

Not to mention VOTE for the same people again and again and again.

 

[$m@Rt@$$]

No common sense. Complain about things like ****ing normal people for pete's sake!

 

[Electric]

Yeh, bitch to your family and friends.
Don't go burning buildings down and burning tyres in the street.
Bunch of bloody cretins.

 

[Former member 61586]

Wasn't the election the other day? And didn't the same party win again?

 

[grok]

Still with the boxes of matches .. ?

 

[LazyLion]

ECAPE MUNICIPAL BUILDING SET ALIGHT

A municipal building in Kirkwood was set alight during service delivery protests on Tuesday, Eastern Cape police said.

Warrant Officer Basil Seekoei urged motorists to use alternative roads and members of the public to avoid the town's central business district.

Burnt tyres and wood were strewn along the town's main roads.

The protests began in the early hours of Tuesday morning, he said.

Rubber bullets were used to disperse the crowd.

"There were splinter groups and we had to control all of them simultaneously."

Police were monitoring the situation. No arrests had yet been made.

Seekoei said the protest was linked to residents' unhappiness with the municipality and service delivery.

He could not confirm that the residents were from Moses Mabhida township, which was about 5km away.

By midday some of the protesters were still in the CBD.

Democratic Alliance MPL Vicky Knoetze said the Sunday's River Valley municipality had written off R84.5 million for irregular expenditure.

The municipality could not be immediately reached for comment.


Source : Sapa /mr/ks/jje
Date : 23 Sep 2014 14:09

 

[MickeyD]

Kirkwood

Now burning more property and looting shops...

 

[MickeyD]

 

[ToxicBunny]

My opinion on this is obviously not popular, as it will result in another Farlam Commission...

But, Call the riot police, equip them with live ammunition, a few live rounds into walls and such near the protesters, if they don't disperse and stop destroying private property, then one or two live rounds into the group will be enough.

 

[MickeyD]

Kirkwood: Reason for protest seems to be linked to a budget write of R84 million while service delivery is suffering. Take into account that the town's total budget was R150 million...

Still no excuse for destroying property. SAPS should have stepped in long before it escalated to that stage.

The Sunday's River Municipality was one of the worst performing municipalities in the country last year.

 

[MickeyD]

DA says Kirkwood protest a result of debt being written off

The Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape says residents from Kirkwood's Moses Mabhida township have laid siege to the town, after R84.5 million had been written off for irregular expenditure by the Sunday's River Valley Municipality.

DA Eastern Cape MPL, Vicky Knoetze, says this is more than half of the municipality's annual budget of R150 million.

She says people were barred from entering the town by the Public Order Policing unit on Tuesday morning.

Knoetze says municipal offices, an ANC office, the fire station, fire-trucks as well as the garbage disposal truck had been set alight.

She says rubber bullets had been fired at protestors and that residents had been asked not to leave their homes.

Sunday's River Valley is amongst those named as the 14 worst performing municipalities in the Eastern Cape.

Police say the situation has started returning to normal in Kirkwood.

Spokesperson, Warrant Officer Basil Seekoei, says police are maintaining a strong presence in the town.

http://www.algoafm.co.za/article.aspx?id=10731

 

[MickeyD]

Kirkwood: burning municipal assets.... wonder who is going to pay for it?

 

[MickeyD]

BUSINESS RALLIES TO SUPPORT KIRKWOOD RESIDENTS

The situation is calm but tense at Kirwood where police were forced to use stun grenades on Thursday morning to disperse local residents when they tried to loot shops in the area.

Thursday's protest by hundreds of local residents, in which they also burnt tyres, would appear to stem from the in-action of local authorities who are accused of failing to act on a list of demands presented to them following violent protests in September.

Six people have been arrested in Kirkwood in the past 24 hours in connection with those September protests.

Kirkwood Chamber chairperson Flippie Ehlers says that in a show of solidarity with residents over the lack of service delivery on the part of the Sunday's River Valley Municipality, local business plans to post bail for the six when they appear in court on Friday.

Below is a letter addressed to the Eastern Cape Premier Phumulo Masaulle

"The infrastructure decay and collapse was ignored by the SRV Municipality for a period exceeding 10 years.

Numerous letters and emails to Municipal Manager and Mayor were just ignored.

Request by Business and Citrus industry for several meetings was ignored.

Ecoli in drinking and irrigation water raw sewage that runs into the water canals for months.

HOP houses build seven years ago in Aquapark not connected to the sewerage system.

Residence dump their toilet buckets into the irrigation canal.

Tarred and gravel roads in Municipal areas are past pothole repair stage.

Numerous different contractors work on the Electrical infrastructure, resulting in no Contractor taking responsibility for the network safety.

Business has requested 2 years ago for the appointment of a senior Electrician to be employed in the SRVM.

Request once again "Ignored"

80% of street lights in Residential areas not working.

Many tower mask lights burn day and night, resulting in the abuse of electricity, which just costs the rate payer more.

In summer time streetlights switch off at 7 am and switches on at 17.00, 6 hours of wasted electricity per day.

Waste disposable sites inaccessible.

Large part of certain communities without water for up to 14 consecutive days and longer.

It was the MEC and the SRV Municipalities responsibility to provide immediate water to the communities by way of water tankers; why did the Defence force not come to assist with their water tankers?

Business and Farmers are prepared to fund a new pipeline and pump from the raw water dams to the treatment works so that sufficient water will be available to the affected areas in Kirkwood.

Mayor and MM refuses to have meetings with these sponsors.

Scholars are writing school exams with the sounds of 100's of guns shots being fired, what a shame.

The Premier of the Eastern Cape make use of his authority and restore the dignity of the residence of Sundays River Valley even if it means that the Mayor, the MM and their executive be replaced by capable people.

Is Government going to wake up when this becomes a second Marikana.

Regards
Flippie Ehlers
Chairman Sundays River Business Chamber

via Algoa FM