NGCOBO, Eastern Cape – After 21 days of protest, the Ngcobo community has temporarily withdrawn from the streets to give government departments time to respond to their grievances over the alleged dysfunction of the AB Xuma Local Municipality.

Secretary of the Crisis Resolution Committee in Ngcobo, Lonwabo Delihlazo, confirmed that the decision was taken to allow the government sectors tasked with addressing their grievances to provide feedback.

Delihlazo said the community was recently visited by the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) to address the issues raised during the protest.

According to Delihlazo, the protest was driven by what the community described as the dysfunction of the AB Xuma Local Municipality.

“Our municipality failed and there was a lack of accountability. We were also complaining about Municipal Manager Khathutshelo Lucky Mulaudzi, who has since been suspended following public protests and allegations of mismanagement and governance failures,” he said. “The municipality appointed an acting manager, namely Simphiwe Malongwe, to handle administrative duties during the suspension and ongoing investigation.”

Government given two weeks to respond

Delihlazo said the engagement with NATJOINTS was fruitful, with the various affected departments each being given two weeks to consider the community’s grievances and provide solutions.

“If the grievance is about transport, the Department of Transport was given the responsibility to solve that. They were each given a time frame of two weeks so that they could come up with solutions.

“We are not saying we have stopped our protest, but we are just giving them time to do what they are required to do. If they fail to meet the deadline, we will give them a seven-day grace period,” said Delihlazo.

He added that if the departments still failed to address their grievances after the grace period, the community would return to the streets.

Delihlazo confirmed that the president of the United Democratic Movement, Bantu Holomisa, was the first political leader to visit the community and listen to their grievances.

He said Holomisa visited them, listened to their concerns and promised to write to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting government intervention.

Delihlazo said the community had since been visited by NATJOINTS as part of efforts to intervene in their grievances.

Holomisa writes to Ramaphosa

Holomisa subsequently wrote a letter to the Ngcobo community explaining the steps he had taken after promising to assist them during an engagement held in Ngcobo on 31 August.

“I undertook to communicate the concerns raised to the relevant authorities and pursue an urgent government response. I subsequently wrote formally to the President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, outlining the concerns raised by the leadership of the community of Ngcobo and requesting urgent intervention by the national government.

“I am writing this memorandum to provide feedback to the leadership of the community of Ngcobo on steps I have taken since our engagement and, importantly, to communicate the response and commitments received from the relevant national authorities,” said Holomisa.

No response had been received from the municipality at the time of publication. This article will be updated once a response is received.

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