Public protector's office denies flouting lockdown rules with 'small' meeting

Some residents of Honeydew, west of Johannesburg, have accused Public Protector  Busisiwe Mkhwebane of flouting lockdown rules by holding a public meeting, but her office says they were just doing their job.

Several sources contacted TimesLIVE, claiming that Mkhwebane was in the area on Friday and held a public meeting related to housing issues with a group of people who had been evicted from a nearby plot, and was flouting the lockdown regulations prohibiting gatherings.

Local ward councillor Leah Knott said she was aware of the meeting but did not attend because she was not invited. However, she did say that the meeting had caused tension in the area because some of the residents felt the public protector would bypass the City of Johannesburg’s housing processes and that preference for houses would be given to those with whom Mkhwebane’s office had met.

Knott said that on Saturday morning, residents barricaded roads with burning tyres and rocks, voicing their dissatisfaction at how Mkhwebane was handling the eviction case.

However, Mkhwebane’s spokesperson Oupa Segalwe said that while a “small” meeting was held in the area on Friday, Mkhwebane herself wasn’t there.

“Adv Mkhwebane was instead represented by the executive manager: provincial investigations and integration, [Ms] Nelisiwe Thejane and [Ms] Manyathela,” he said, adding that the Office of the Public Protector is classified as an essential service in terms of Regulation 11A, B27 of the lockdown.

“There were less than 20 people in attendance, which is far less than the legal threshold of 50. The intervention was itself geared towards improving the residents’ living conditions so as to help curb the potential spread of Covid-19. In addition, safety precautions such as keeping at least a metre apart and wearing protective clothing such as face masks and gloves were observed,” he told TimesLIVE.

Segalwe said the meeting followed a complaint the public protector’s office had received from a community leader representing 64 families now living on Plot 323 in Wilgespruit, Honeydew, after government moved them there from nearby Ruimsig. At the meeting, the community said they were dissatisfied that little or no progress in their living conditions had been made since a previous meeting held in August last year.

Segalwe said Mkhwebane at the time held a meeting with families that were evicted from private land in Ruimsig and moved to the plot by the government. They lodged a complaint with her office for not having access to basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation.

However, Segalwe said a lot had happened since the last meeting, including an alternative dispute resolution meeting Mkhwebane had presided over at which the City Of Joburg presented its plans to resolve the community’s complaints.

He said Winnie Manyathela, a provincial representative of the public protector, had brought the community’s grievances to the city manager who then returned to them with a proposal to build two-bedroom prefabricated structures for them as opposed to living in tents.

“Yesterday’s engagement was therefore a small meeting where the Public Protector’s oiffice was introducing the community leader to the project manager from the side of the City for purposes of liaison,” Segalwe said.