Protesters threaten to empty toilets onto road

Msunduzi municipality doesn’t listen, say residents

Residents of Denmark location in Pietermaritzburg blocked roads on Tuesday complaining that the municipality had not emptied their toilets since last year. Photo: Nompendulo Ngubane

Pietermaritzburg protesters are angry that their pit toilets have not been emptied since last year. They have threatened to throw waste onto the road if their complaints are not heard by the Msunduzi municipality.

“We will take buckets full of waste and spill them onto the road so that they take us seriously,” said protester Jabulani Mazibuko as residents of Slangspruit, Denmark, in Pietermaritzburg blocked roads with trees and burning tyres on Tuesday afternoon.

The protesters are complaining that their toilets have not been emptied since last year. In nearby France location, in the same ward, residents are also complaining about blocked toilets. According to ward councillor Sibongile Mncwango there have been problems with payments to the drainage company contracted by the Msunduzi municipality.

Broken bottles thrown on the road on Tuesday stopped drivers from using the road leading to Imbali township. Police removed burning trees to allow the traffic to flow.

Residents of Denmark protested about the toilets in June 2017 and again early in 2018.
They are also complaining about electricity cuts which they say damage their appliances.

“Since November we have been requesting our ward councillor to assist us in emptying the toilets,” said Mazibuko. “Residents did not enjoy Christmas because of the smell and flies. We bought chemicals to lower the waste but the chemicals work for a short time.”

“We have had meetings with the municipality. They have promised to attend to the matter. Nothing has been done.”

Residents have protested several times about their toilets not being emptied by the municipality. Photo: Nompendulo Ngubane

Mazibuko said when electricity was restored after cuts, appliances were broken. “On Monday the guys from the municipality were fixing the transformer. They did not finish what they were doing. The transformer was left open on the road.”

Sandile Mseleku said his fridge was broken after electricity cuts last week. “Almost every resident here has appliances broken. We buy globes almost every week because globes burn. We are tired. Even when we visit the municipality offices we are labelled as a nuisance. They know we have problems but they don’t attend to them,” said Mseleku.

Ward councillor Mncwango said she had reported the electricity cuts to the municipality. She said trucks had been sent to Denmark to empty the toilets “but they broke”.

“I had explained that there has been a problem of funds from the municipality’s side because the trucks were outsourced,” said Mncwango. She said she had promised residents she would raise the matter at the full council.

We are awaiting comment from the municipality.

   By Nompendulo Ngubane

© 2019 GroundUp.

SGB shuts down school after dispute with principal

Learners want the school reopened

Parents protested outside Silver Leaf Primary in Dunoon against the school principal. Photo: Peter Luhanga

The School Governing Body of Silver Leaf Primary in Dunoon has shut down the school. Parents accuse the principal of being rude to them and want him removed. But some learners want the school reopened.

On Friday, about 80 parents protested outside the school. They disrupted lessons and ordered learners and teachers to go home. Their anger was mainly directed at the school principal, Mlungisi Fani.
Deputy chairperson of the School Governing Body Caroline Sikweyiya said parents were accusing Fani of failing to take their opinions seriously on the running of the school, and branding them “illiterates”.

The protest continued on Monday. The parents sang and danced to popular struggle songs and held placards saying, for example, “Fani must fall”.

Yandiswa Bika, who has two children at the school, claimed that the principal swore at parents and when they had issues to report to him he met them at the gate and slammed it against them.
“He calls us flies and says that children must be dropped at the entrance gate and that we are not allowed inside the school premises to see them off,” said Bika.

She said some parents with children who were short of items from the school stationery pack were turned back home on the first day of school. This apparently fuelled the anger for the Friday protest.
“He judges us,” she said.

The Western Cape Education Department has, however, said it has received complaints about financial misconduct by the SGB. It is unclear if this is what led to the conflict, and no details have yet been provided about the alleged misconduct.

Director of Communications at the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), Bronagh Hammond, on Friday described the actions of the protesting parents as “very unfortunate as it has affected the learners directly”.

“The principal has raised a number of concerns regarding the conduct of the SGB on certain matters … The SGB, unfortunately, reacted to the letter by shutting down the school. The Department has offered to meet the SGB on Monday,” said Hammond.

But on Monday Hammond said the parents had declined to come to the WCED offices. “This offer still stands.”

“The WCED has also received complaints regarding the financial misconduct of the SGB and will investigate. The refusal to allow for teaching and learning is not acceptable. Learners should not be the victims of the current dispute between the principal and the SGB,” said Hammond.

On Monday the school reopened for about half an hour. Learners, dressed in uniform and eager to learn, returned to school. They started pushing the gate demanding the security guards let them in. The gate was opened.

Teachers were let in at 9:30 am.

But the SGB and protesting parents vowed to not let the principal access the school.

Fani arrived at the school escorted by the Metro Police but was not allowed in.

The parents then cancelled lessons for the day and learners were seen coming out of the classrooms at 10:05 am.

Anele Pikelelo, 16, a Grade 7 learner at the school, said that his teacher told them to go home and did not explain further.

“We are not happy. We want to learn and get ready for high school,” said Pikelelo.

Some parents who got the news via social networks came to pick up their children. Children whose parents were at work were left in the care of the school caretaker.

The protesting parents also made sure that all the teachers had left the school premises.

The school, which has several hundred learners, was also in the news in 2016 when parents protested about the lack of space in Grade R.

© 2019 GroundUp.
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The ANC must offer more than promises to win over South Africans

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s party, the ANC, faces a tough set of elections in May.
EPA-EFE/Kim Ludbrook

Launching the governing African National Congress’s (ANC) 2019 general election manifesto in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa lauded the successes of the last 25 years of democracy. He claimed that the governing party had “given substance to the promise of a better life for all”. He declared 2019 “the year of united action to grow South Africa”, with a focus on economic growth and job creation:

Today, we are issuing a call to all the people of South Africa, to join us as we strive to accelerate change in our country, as we strive to build an inclusive economy that creates jobs and as we work towards a better future for our children.

He also emphasised that the ANC’s aim was to create a developmental state which would put the people first, and that corruption and factional politics would not be tolerated.

He outlined the ANC’s political agenda. This included mobilising for a decisive victory in the 2019 general elections; intensifying the renewal of ANC branches; fighting corruption in government, in the ANC and across society; and organising against social ills such as gender-based violence, substance abuse and racism.

But the same golden promises have been made before. They may not have the same shine any more given that South Africa is at a precarious point in its 25th year of democracy. The country faces massive socio-economic and socio-political challenges. Unemployment remains stubbornly high, particularly among young people. Economic growth is tepid and protests over the government’s poor delivery of basic services are on the rise.

A survey by Afrobarometer –- a non-partisan African research network – shows that South Africans generally believe their current economic conditions are bad. Not surprisingly, most believe that the government is dealing with economic policy badly. More than 60% think the government’s performance isn’t satisfactory on this front.

More worrying is that South Africans are increasingly becoming disillusioned with democracy because of the government’s anorexic delivery on the promise of a better life for all. While the ANC continues to make this promise, its delivery remains elusive.

The next few months will be crucial. The ANC will need to take decisive action if it’s going to win over sceptical voters.

Echoes of past manifestos

A cursory glance at previous ANC election manifestos shows that very similar promises and plans have been made ahead of previous elections.

In 1999, at the launch of its manifesto, the party urged South Africans to vote for it in return for speedy change and the delivery of services, to ensure a better life for all.

The 2004 manifesto, under the banner of “a people’s contract to create work and fight poverty”, stressed growing the economy, creating sustainable livelihoods, accessing basic services, facilitating comprehensive social security as well as fighting crime and corruption.

Similar sentiments were expressed in the ANC’s 2009 general election manifesto. The overarching theme of this manifesto was “working together we can do more”. The party claimed that a

…. vote for the ANC is a vote for a better life.

Focus areas were the creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods, education, health, rural development, food security and land reform as well as the fight against corruption and crime.

By 2014 the promise of a “better life for all” remained an elusive dream. Corruption, allegations of state capture, and predatory political factionalism undermined trust in the ANC’s abilities to deliver on its 2014 promises. As in 2009, economic growth and job creation, rural development and land reform, addressing apartheid legacies, fighting crime and corruption, and delivering quality health and education were key priorities.

Will the electorate buy those golden promises? It’s not clear that they will, given the decline in electoral support as well trust in the ruling party.

A time series by Afrobarometer shows both these trends very clearly.

Decline in electoral support and trust

The party’s electoral support has shrunk. In 1999 the ANC held an overwhelming majority of 66%. By the 2014 general elections, this fell to 61%.

The change of voter support in certain provinces is very marked. Electoral support for the ANC declined between 1999 and 2014 in some provinces. Most notable was the decline of electoral support in the Eastern Cape, its traditional stronghold.

In the Free State, the ANC held 81% of electoral support in 1999 but, by 2014, the party only secured 70% of the vote. Similar trends were evident in the North West, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng provinces.

Trust in the ANC remains precarious. In 2002 a quarter of South Africans who took part in the Afrobarometer survey didn’t trust the governing party at all. By 2018, this sentiment increased to 36%.

Trust in the president also fell. In 1999 37% of South Africans indicated a measure of trust in the president. By 2018 only 30% said they trusted the president a little.

Crucial times ahead

There are similar themes of addressing economic growth for job creation, of increasing education and skills development, addressing unemployment, inequality and poverty, and working to create a better life for all in the ANC’s latest manifesto.

But the party will need to take decisive action on corruption as well as facilitate the necessary conditions for economic growth and job creation to restore some semblance of trust in its governing ability.

The next few months will be crucial. There are a few caveats that may undermine its electoral performance in 2019. These include addressing factionalism and corruption and ensuring accountability for those involved in state capture. The ANC also has to get public institutions functioning in a way that delivers basic services to the people.

If it fails to do any of this, the ANC may well suffer losses akin to the 2016 local government elections at a national level and reduce its electoral dominance of South Africa’s political landscape. Indeed, the key lesson from 2016 was that people are no longer buying promises with their vote.

Joleen Steyn Kotze, Senior Research Specialist in Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free State

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.