Malema-style anarchy and sabotage by politicised police and municipal workers are killing four once-thriving Highveld Towns in South Africa: turning them into 'Ghost Towns' and in the process, also killing off their own job opportunities -- The towns of Dullstroom, Belfast, Machadodorp, Waterval Boven are in chaos
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Quote by ANC mayor, councillor Ngwenya: "Municipal staff members follow an anarchic 'Malema-style approach' and this 'is the cause of the trouble'...
-- Local Business people and Ratepayers teamed up, launched the Emakhazeni Good Governance Forum (http://www.eggf.co.za/About%20Us.html) to fight back, using the law against 'Malema-style' anarchy and sabotage: the defence force was even called in to stop municipal workers from poisoning the municipal water supplies...
http://lowvelder.co.za/247074/sabotage-and-anarchy-killing-once-thriving-highveld-towns/
http://www.eggf.co.za/About%20Us.html
---- Investigative journalist of the Lowvelder weekly, Johanri Coetzee reports on her findings on 27 January 2015
DULLSTROOM – In a desperate attempt to save four once-thriving Afrikaner-dominated agricultural towns in Mpumalanga from becoming ghost towns,
the so-named "Emakhazeni Good Governance Forum" (EGGF http://www.eggf.co.za/index.html ) has called upon
the ANC-regime's 'minister of cooperative governance and traditional Affairs' Pravin Gordhan and on South Africa's president Mr Jacob Zuma to intervene.
--- Dullstroom, Belfast, Machadodorp and Waterval Boven have been turned into a mega-municipality named Emakhazeni Local Municipality (ELM) by the ANC-regime.
-- They have been under siege from municipal-workers 'using Malema-style anarchy' tactics and its businesses have been fighting to survive over the past year:
residents fear that the towns will become 'ghost-towns' due to the numerous illegal strikes crippling economic growth and daily activities.
Now, the EGGF has published a blank 'Letter of Dispute' http://www.eggf.co.za/index.html which ratepayers can complete and send to the local municipalities to fight back with: the goal is to legally stop paying taxes to force the central municipality into restoring law and order in the four towns.
Two weeks ago Middelburg’s special task force had to intervene in Dullstroom. A honeysucker was set alight and strikers marched in the streets, littering the main road with rubbish and attempting to prevent vehicles from passing through the town. Police opened fire with rubber bullets to disperse protesters.
The South African National Defence Force also was sent out to protect the Dullstroom Dam and water treatment plant due to a number of sabotage incidents: residents feared the water would be poisoned by 'protestors.
Business owners told Lowvelder on a visit to the various towns that they feared the water would be poisoned and therefore had to make use of the “army boys” from Waterval Boven – providing food for them at their own expense.
“In Belfast, the town was without potable water for a number of days and sewage spilled into streams feeding the main dams,” the EGGF said.
According to the conservancy, tank-clearing services had come to a standstill and residents in some parts of the municipality were warned to boil water before using it --
the purification plants were left unattended due to the ongoing strikes. Volunteer-members of the community (took their lives into their own hands) having to patrol key
strategic water-related installations in Dullstroom.
“The local security company employed by the municipality is totally ineffective and beat a hasty retreat whenever strikers appear.”
And the local police wasn't much help: there is a purported 'shortage of vehicles and manpower'.
ANC-councillor Xolani Sydney Ngwenya, the appointed mayor, confirmed the problems with the police logistics - confirming that 'All four police stations personnel have been extremely slow to respond (to emergency calls.)
Quote: "Municipal staff members follow an anarchic 'Malema-style approach' and this 'is the cause of the trouble'... mayor Ngwenya
“The most critical and painful thing for us is that the police, as a law-enforcement agency, are completely mum about the situation. It seems as if they have a view in the matter without understanding the real problem.” According to him the provincial SAPS had been informed about the situation, but hadn’t done anything yet to bring about change. “The province is aware of the situation in Emakhazeni, but unfortunately we haven’t seen any action.
“The Emakhazeni police is highly politicised,” he said. Lowvelder didn’t receive any official comment from the provincial police officials at the time of going to print.
Ngwenya denied allegations that the reason for municipal workers to go on strike was related in any way to the appointment of the technical manager, Mr Lucas Sindane and municipal manager, Ms Thandi Shoba.
He did however acknowledge that "conflict between Sindane and the strikers existed". The last strike in December was carried out in an attempt to remove the technical manager Sindane.
During the visit, municipal staffers told Lowvelder that "Sindane was too strict as he had brought disciplinary charges against 10 staff members."
This added fuel to the fire and they went on strike again. The 'Emakhazeni municipality (encompassing Dullstroom, Belfast, Machadodorp and Waterval Boven) obtained a court order
just before Christmas, requiring the strikers to return to work within 48 hours. This court order was ignored.
Ngwenya said there were staff members who followed a “Malema style” approach and it was the cause of the trouble. One of the biggest problems was that strikers demanded pay while they were on strike illegally.
“We work on a no-work, no-pay principle. We are guided by law, but that is not how the strikers see it.
“They keep on striking when we deduct money from their salaries for the days they did not work. They want their money and they want to function in a lawlessness environment,” he said. According to him all the cases opened by the municipality against the strikers had not been treated properly, but he said that those opened by workers against management had been taken very seriously.
“It is very unfortunate. My understanding is that people don’t have the right to distract other people’s lives. Is it not a criminal offence when people litter and block the streets without permission? In other areas the police will act, but here they don’t. In fact, they are enjoying it. “The police are now politicians. Our relationship with them is a professional one. We are not related on the basis of liking. When we take our responsibility, we take an oath. We say that we will do our work in a diligent and honest manner, and not compromise those we are serving. If I take an oath, I will do everything to serve the people.”
Ngwenya issued his sincere apology to the public for the disruption of services and said it had not been their intention.
"The public needed to understand that the environment they were operating in was difficult".
In the meanwhile, as the power struggle continues and service delivery is failing residents, businesses are struggling to survive.
Mrs Anita Minnaar, a well-known business owner in Dullstroom said she could not understand how only 24 people could manage to cripple a town".
Four Highveld towns - Belfast, Dullstroom, Machadodorp and Waterval Boven -- are being destroyed by Malema-style anarchists and municipal workers this past year - but how ratepayers are fighting back:
"The strikers are targeting business in particilar: 'They are terrorising us,' said local Afrikaner business woman: adding that 'she could not understand how only 24 people could manage to cripple a town".
According to Ms Minnaar of the Rose Cottage in Dullstroom, they had seen many businesses closing their doors due to the strikes.
She said "it was as if the strikers were targeting businesses in particular. “They are terrorising us,” she said. Two protesters threatened to kill her during one of the protests.
She however managed to fend them off with a broomstick. Various courses of action were recently put on the table when Mrs Minnaar called a meeting with business owners and residents to discuss the way forward.
One option - also used at other municipalities where ratepayers were being threatened - was to declare a formal legal dispute with the municipality and for all the rate-payers to cease paying rates and service charges with immediate effect. This can be done under South African law.
A draft letter of dispute have already been made available on the EGGF’s website.
Secession plans also mooted: Minnaar said the civil-rights group AfriForum, alligned to the Solidarity trade union movement, had also been called in and that the possibility of secession was under discussion.
Minnaar said that residents, and especially business owners in Dullstroom were working around the clock to keep business running and prevent the town from getting a ghost town status, such as was the case in Waterval Boven -- as they were dependent on tourists visiting their town.
Another option: obtaining a High Court order against the SA commissioner of police and the minister, forcing them to ensure the protection of strategic assets, were among the options tabled.
The cost associated with obtaining such an order are likely to be around R80,000 and businesses were requested to contribute R1,000 each towards this fund.
Shot fired in Belfast during municipal workers industrial action
According to Mr Peter St Clair, chairman of the EGGF, the technical manager, Mr Lucas Sindane drew a firearm and discharged a shot at the end of last year when municipal workers stormed his offices. This apparently happened after deductions on salaries of striking workers were made by ELM. According to St Clair the workers managed to take the firearm from him which was later handed in at the Belfast Police Station. A formal charge was laid in respect of the illegal discharge of a firearm. The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) confirmed the incident, adding that Sindane started swearing at the shop stewards claiming that management decided not to pay the workers and the only thing that was left for them to do was to shoot them. Samwu said that a case of attempted murder had been opened against Sindane.
Ngwenya said he heard people talking about it, but he was not present.
“I believe there are two sides to a story, hence we asked the police to help us get to the bottom of the matter.”
http://lowvelder.co.za/247074/sabotage-and-anarchy-killing-once-thriving-highveld-towns/
http://www.eggf.co.za/About%20Us.html
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links to some of the pages describing attacks, murders and other hatecrimes against Afrikaners in BELFAST, one of the four highveld towns described above:
BELFAST : Some of the attacks, murders against Afrikaners and other hatecrimes in Belfast over past 3 years:
http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/567
http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/355
http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/570
http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/572
http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/651
http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/651
http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/872
http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/572
http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/629
http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/1142
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