Tension erupted between the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) and the mayoral committee during a meeting at the council chamber on Thursday.
While chairing the meeting, Councillor Nombulelo Masoma stated that the purpose of the meeting was to give response to the UPM with regards to the grievances they raised during a peaceful march on 10 October.
Tension erupted between the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) and the mayoral committee during a meeting at the council chamber on Thursday.
While chairing the meeting, Councillor Nombulelo Masoma stated that the purpose of the meeting was to give response to the UPM with regards to the grievances they raised during a peaceful march on 10 October.
The issues the UPM raised were presented to the municipality in four different memoranda including matters such as employment and job creation, the status of housing development, water and electricity, the rape and abuse of women and children and the development of recreational facilities in Grahamstown.
In their response, the municipality clearly highlighted that "the majority of matters raised by the social movement are not in the competency [sic]of the municipality, especially those that are responsibilities of other government departments."
Therefore, the UPM was advised to take up these issues with the relevant government departments. Regarding employment issues, Councillor Ntsikelelo Stamper said that the municipality has certain limits and targets set by the National Treasury as far as salaries are concerned. While Stamper was reading the responses, UPM leader Ayanda Kota interrupted him by saying "We are not looking for employment from the municipality," saying that the municipality did not understand the issues outlined in the memorandum.
Stamper merely continued with the responses stating that the municipality’s role is to "ensure that through Local Economic Development (LED), a conducive and friendly environment is created to attract investors". One of the UPM’s requests was that each person should be allowed more than 100L of water per day.
However, the municipality said that in terms of its indigent policy, which is guided by the National Framework for indigent households, only 10 kilolitres of free water may be supplied to each indigent household per day. This then means that less than six people per household will receive 100 litres of water per day. After the responses were read, Masoma proposed that the floor is open for questions if there is anyone who needs clarity on the responses. Although people were expected to ask questions, some started asking questions about issues relating to other government departments which caused some disruption. A heated discussion ensued.
Meanwhile the UPM was advised to take the municipality’s responses and discuss them with other UPM members. They were also told to then discuss the members’ responses with various local organisations such as their ward committees, but the UPM did not agree with this statement and said they prefer reporting back to the mayoral committee.
This caused a misunderstanding between both parties as they argued about how the meeting should be conducted. "The manner in which you are behaving is not correct," said Kota while referring to Masoma who was forced to maintain order. "We came here to open up communication channels with the municipality because we don’t want to behave like hooligans," said UPM memeber Mallet Pumelele Giyose while agreeing with Kota’s statement.
Since the heated discussion was not conducted as expected, it was further decided that the municipality should review the UPM’s memoranda and correct the responses after reading through the requests in detail. Both parties also decided to meet on 14 December to discuss all the issues in an orderly manner.
