A task team has been dispatched to Endumeni Municipality in Dundee following an outbreak of violent protests.
|||Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs has dispatched a team to Endumeni Municipality in Dundee following an outbreak of violent protests in the northern KZN town.
Fourteen people - aged between 17 and 35 - appeared in the Dundee Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after a car belonging to a shop owner was burned, shops were looted and foreign nationals attacked during violent protests in Sibongile township on Wednesday.
The 14 suspects - who are charged with public violence - were granted bail of R500 each and are due back in court on June 7.
The protest was allegedly sparked by the suspension of Endumeni municipal manager Thabani Biyela.
A spokesman for the department, Lennox Mabaso, said the team would establish the facts and deal with the issues which led to the “chaos” in the area.
The team had met stakeholders and was working to resolve the problems, he said.
“We appreciate the importance and urgency of the matter, and will report back to the MEC timeously… MEC Nomusa Dube has condemned the use of violence and the destruction of property to address concerns.
“We have all worked for the system of democracy which has mechanisms within its structures to iron out differences. We should not destroy property built through tax payers’ hard-earned money”
Endumeni Municipality speaker Sduduzo Mdluli said it had been decided to suspend city manager Thabani Biyela after allegations of misconduct against him emerged.
“It is alleged that he misrepresented his qualifications when applying for this job, and that there were irregular processes in the procurement and acquiring of services, as well as the hiring of staff.”
He said the correct channels had been followed in suspending Biyela and, should the disciplinary process instituted find no truth to these allegations, he would be reinstated.
“We did things openly,” he said.
Commenting on the reported dispute between him and the mayor, Thulani Mahaye, said to have been opposed to Biyela’s suspension, Mdluli said: “All that is happening is within the municipality, and decisions are taken by the municipality and not individuals.”
Mdluli said that the public protest had erupted because of dissatisfaction following Biyela’s suspension, but that those who had instigated it were hiding behind genuine service delivery gripes.
“We are mindful that there are service delivery challenges, but this had nothing to do with that. How can people wanting better service delivery burn a municipal building?”
He called these “criminal acts”, saying the municipality respected the public’s right to protest for genuine causes, and without “criminal behaviour”.
Biyela, whose suspension had apparently sparked the protest, said he was not aware this was the case. He said that, as far as he knew, the community was protesting against the failure of the department to respond to a memorandum they had presented on April 18 - coincidentally, the same day he received his suspension letter.
He lodged an urgent application with the Labour Court to set aside the suspension, which was denied.
Although he refused to comment on the merits of the allegations, he said he was being “made a scapegoat” and called the allegations false.
He said he had not yet been advised if or when a disciplinary hearing would take place.
Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane said the situation had calmed, but the police continued to monitor it.
He said some foreigners who feared for their lives had left the area.
Daily News