WATCH | Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma chased away by frustrated Eastern Cape residents

Co-operative governance (Cogta) minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was escorted out of Komani on Monday after residents chased her away during a visit.

Dlamini-Zuma was in Komani to attend to grievances by residents who had written to ask her to collapse the Enoch Mgijima municipality.

The letter prompted her to meet community, traditional and religious leaders, businesses and the municipality to see for herself. But when she gave feedback to the community, the frustrated crowd yelled at her to leave.

This was after she told the community she would have to address their grievances at the upcoming cabinet meeting instead of engaging them there and then. 

“The community was not happy with the process part of it and said she must go to cabinet, but they would burn the town. Disbanding a municipality cannot be done on the basis of a letter,” Cogta spokesperson Lungi Mtshali said.

“But she spent the whole day listening to them to develop rapport. Obviously, when people have been living in such conditions for too long, they are not always rational, and we accept that. They don’t want to hear about the process but want to hear solutions,” Mtshali said.

In videos on social media, Dlamini-Zuma is seen being escorted by marshals as people shouted that she should leave.

Mtshali said it was not clear what the exact grievances were and why the community wanted the collapse of their municipality. However, it seemed to link to service delivery issues including water, electricity and illegal connections.

He said the residents complained they had raised issues with the mayor but were ignored.

“We understand their frustration, and we were not deterred by the narrative that [the minister] was chased away. She spoke to them, and they didn’t want to hear about the process ... You can tell there is genuine frustration, but we have to be the ones who guide people. The minister can’t go and say she will dissolve the municipality based on a letter.”

The angered residents had shut down the N6 highway from Johannesburg to East London to protest against poor service delivery.

This is the same municipality where a R15m “stadium”  that turned out to be a few grandstands around an open field was built.

Mtshali said the minister would return to the community as soon as she consulted the cabinet.

“It is our role and responsibility to educate the community, and sometimes they will just do what they did on Monday. We can’t and do not want to lie to them and promise them things. Normally, the cabinet will issue a statement, and we go to the community as soon as we have an answer from the cabinet.”

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