No happy Siyathemba return for Zuma
2010-05-23 13:00
President Jacob Zuma did not receive a warm welcome as he
returned to a rowdy Siyathemba community in
Balfour Mpumalanga yesterday.
Zuma, who was accompanied by cabinet ministers and provincial MECs,
addressed the residents at the local stadium, promising that he would follow up
on service delivery promises by his ministers.
Public works minister Geoff Doidge, social development minister
Edna Molewa, deputy human settlements minister Zoliswa Kota-Fredericks,
education MEC Regina Mhaule and cooperative governance MEC Norman Mokoena all
outlined their programmes of action.
But the residents didn’t agree with some of the ministers.
When Kota-Fredericks said 454 houses would be built in the
municipality, the crowd shouted, “Ziphi!” (Where are they?). The minister said
240 houses had been completed with another 214 still outstanding.
Doidge said government had 33 properties in the municipality,
including farms, and would have to buy two more farms to build houses on them.
In reaction to the community’s main demand that the area be
reincorporated into Gauteng, Zuma said: “All problems with cross-border towns
are being dealt with.”
Mokoena said he had handed the re-demarcation request to
cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister Sicelo Shiceka.
“We have struck an agreement with the Gauteng government to allow
the residents to be admitted at the nearest hospital in Heidelberg and all
hospitals in Gauteng,” he said.
The residents had waited for more than three hours for Zuma and his
delegation who had been in a meeting with municipal officials.
Some residents – carrying posters saying “Aids is better than
Mpumalanga” and “The devil is better than Mpumalanga” – threatened to resume
protests if their demands were not met.
However, Zuma was not pleased, and he lashed out at the community
for the posters, describing them as offensive.
“Some of your banners are a disgrace. I don’t see why you have to
use offensive language to get your point across,” he said.
On the stadium grandstand, rowdy youth carrying African National
Congress, South African Communist Party and Pan African Congress banners kept
interrupting the brief proceedings, which lasted for just more than an hour.
One resident was told off by Zuma: “Don’t ask me a question boy,
government can’t promise something in the morning and fix it by afternoon.”
But the crowd would not relent, and Zuma berated them for
interrupting him and his ministers. “It means you will continue living in
poverty, (if you don’t want to listen),” he said.
However, the crowd continued heckling him.
Zuma promised tough action against ministers who did not
deliver.
- City Press