"Call in the army!" is usually a joking call for direct, immediate and dramatic intervention in a situation that has gone seriously pear-shaped.
"Call in the army!" is usually a joking call for direct, immediate and dramatic intervention in a situation that has gone seriously pear-shaped.
How ironic then that on the very morning Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Pravin Gordhan strode into town to deal with the disaster that is Makana Municipality, Grahamstown's 6 SA Infantry Battalion lined the streets and filled the air with sirens and barked commands that echoed across the city centre.
The double drama – one a celebration, the other an emergency intervention – came after a week in which the acting municipal manager was forced to flee belligerent City Hall employees after rumours they wouldn't be paid; local government watchdog PSAM joined forces with social justice organisation the Unemployed People's Movement to demand that Makana Municpality be dissolved; and Grahamstown residents, spurred by the added frustration of days without water, mobilised through social media to join forces with them.
All the while, the DA was building momentum for its own interventions in Makana's mayhem.
Yesterday, MP for the party's Frontier constituency, Andrew Whitfield was set to make a Member's statement about Grahamstown in Parliament. Makana DA member Xolani Madyo submitted a plea to the National Council of Provinces for Makana to go under administration.
Wednesday must have been a tough day for the Mayor. He already knew what was in store for his municipality, after the previous night's ANC leadership meeting in Bhisho. So what actually made the army – the figurative one of Pravin Gordhan, not 6 SAI – come to town?
If we were politicians (which we aren't) on the side of Grahamstown's citizens (which we are), we would say that it was the people who forced the change – through their vocal protests.
If we were the DA, we might say we used our knowledge of local government legislation to confront a corrupt situation.
If we were the ANC, we might say we'd planned for this to happen all along in line with our mission to clean up local government administration around the country. And who knows where the municpality's work force, along with their considerable power to affect things in this city, stands in all of this.
As any historian will tell you, it's never as simple as any one of those factors. Like you, we're waitiing to see what being under administration means in practice.
Will there be new faces? Will they sit alongside the old ones in a mentoring capacity? Most of all, will things get better? No matter what one thinks of the use of force in principle, the fact is, soldiers who are part of our town put their lives on the line to protect other people's lives.
This week Grocott's Mail enjoyed an exclusive interview with 6 SAI's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Alton Gysman – you can watch the interview on the Grocott's Mail website. He led a force of 850 soldiers in a series of encounters to suppress armed groups.
Were you ever frightened? we asked him.
Yes, was the answer.
"But we have drills and doctrines in place, and we know how to apply them."
Perhaps Makana's captains, and indeed its citizens, can take a tip from the Colonel in these worrying times.
