Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has buckled under pressure from the Komani Protest Action (KPA) group and agreed to visit Komani to address issues raised, including the dissolution of the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality.
In a meeting on Wednesday, February 1 KPA had vowed to hold the town to ransom until Dlamini-Zuma came to town. The community agreed it had lost confidence in the current leadership of EMLM and wanted the municipality dissolved as soon as possible.
This followed a two-day total shutdown of the town on January 26 and 27. The protest followed regular power outages, due to dilapidated municipal electrical infrastructure, lasting up to 16 days at times. Potholes and refuse not being collected are also some of the challenges facing the trouble local authority.
In her letter dated February 1, the minister agreed to meet the KPA committee in Komani on either Monday, February 6, or Tuesday February 7.
“I have invited the Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance, Thembisile Nkadimeng to be part of our deliberations. Further, I have communicated with the Minister of Finane, Enoch Godongwana who has committed that he will avail himself for the engagement,” she wrote.
“As we coordinate diaries between colleagues and I, we are considering that the visit happens either on Monday, 6 February 2023 or Tuesday, 7 February 2023. The finalised date will be communicatee at the earliest available opportunity.”
Dlamini-Zuma’s spokesperson Lungi Mtshali confirmed the letter was from the minister.
“Yes, that is a letter written to the Action group in response to their letter which was calling for an immediate dissolution of the municipal council,” said Mtshali.
Responding to the minister’s letter, KPA committee wrote it was satisfied with the proposed dates for the engagement. Contrarily, the letter goes further to insinuate the reactivation of the shutdown.
“Please note that it is advisable to the ministers to seriously attempt to meet on February 6, as the Komani community will be reactivating the protest action on February 7,” the letter stated.
Speaking during an interview, one of the KPA committee members, Mncedisi Mbengo said whether the shutdown will happen depended solely on Dlamini-Zuma and Godongwana.
He said the two ministers also had to give an opportunity to the National Cabinet Representative, Dr Monde Tom, to report on the status of EMLM.
“We are not backing down, we are dependent on them (the ministers) if they give us an unsatisfactory response that does not say the municipality must be dissolved – we will go back to the streets and the shutdown will be indefinite,” said Mbengo.
