The Mitchells Plain United Resident’s Association (Mura) has brought together invested parties to discuss and unpack the impact of extortion on community projects in the Mitchells Plain area.
The meeting hosted at the Lentegeur Police Station boardroom on Friday 26 April aimed to find proactive and holistic approaches to dealing with cases of extortion and intimidation affecting structural projects, with specific mention of the Beacon Valley Housing project and Lentegeur’s Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) refurbishment project.
Community development
Zama Mgwatyu of the Development Action Group (DAG) says processes are in place that encourage community involvement.
He further encouraged community leaders to get involved in projects from the time they are announced.
“(Leaders) must understand their role in influencing tender processes before a container is put in your area,” he says.
Michael Jacobs, Mura deputy chair, says there are several skilled labourers and companies in the community, but it remains imperative that skills be the determining factor in hiring.
Mgwatyu continues that many residents would complain about projects, but lack the knowledge on how government works. This results in frustration while residents complain to the wrong parties.
The meeting brought together representatives of Prasa, community leaders, Community Liason Officers (CLOs) from various projects and police. It also offered attendees an opportunity to share their thoughts around the way forward.
Mgwatyu says “corruption is in our DNA”, and called on residents to be invested in projects affecting them.
He classified that there are various kinds of extortion, including the so-called construction mafia, extortion in townships and unrest in the taxi and bus industry.
Police officials at the meeting say that while they are mandated with safety and crime prevention, they have no authority to police private developments.
Need for trains
Refering to the importance of keeping the Prasa project Jacobs says a recent study was conducted that indicated people in the area spend up to R14 000 on transport annually, which would be reduced to around R2 000 if the train service was running.
Linda Jones, a local pastor continues that while the general rehabilitation of the central line has been delayed around the relocation of shack dwellers occupying the line, this should not be the case.
“We are a community who don’t comply with the laws. We claim there is lawlessness out there, but we are all lawless. Prasa is not an entity for housing, they are an entity for transport. We should not even be having this conversation. Since when do people occupy a train line.”
Prasa intends to host a stakeholder meeting around its projects in the coming weeks.
Col Umavathie Rameshwarnath, Lentegeur police station commander also encouraged partnership policing on all levels. “There is partnership, but we want to rekindle that partership policing,” she says.
