SABIE – Businesses and schools were relieved to resume their activities after a service-delivery strike on Monday and Tuesday.
What started as a small “stay away” as the protesters called it, ended up in a gathering of around 2 000 people. All businesses and schools were unable to open for this two-day period.
One of the reasons for the protest was, among other service-delivery issues, the lack of water in the neighbouring Simile area. Upon investigation, Lowvelder found that the reason was numerous illegal connections to the pump station. This caused power failures with the knock-on affect of no water being pumped to residents for weeks. This forced them to use water from the Klein-Sabie River.
A memorandum was handed over also stating that all apartheid debts and arrears be scrapped, all illegal appointments in Thaba Chweu be addressed, forestry land be used for housing, and upgrades done at informal settlements like Harmony Hill and Simile.
This was not the first time that these specific issues were raised. In June another memorandum with the same demands was handed in, but no response was received.
“Enough is enough” was the statement of the day as the protesters waited in front of the town hall for the municipality to respond to their demands.
“We will continue to strike until we get answers,” an angry protester told Lowvelder on Tuesday. “If we don’t, we will solve by fire.”
It is only after government officials were basically forced to visit the areas of Harmony Hill and Simile to see the problems for themselves, that the protesters started to settle.
The strike started early on Monday morning, when the leaders of the protest forced residents to join in, “as these problems affect them all”.
All entrances to town were closed and employees who tried to enter, were compelled to join the march.
“We haven’t eaten, and we’ve barely slept, but we will not give up,” another protester told Lowvelder.
A strong police presence ensured that their anger didn’t result in violence. Thaba Chweu Municipality now has seven days to respond to their demands. By the time of going to press, the municipality had not responded to Lowvelder’s enquiries.
