SABIE – Residents feel they are being held hostage by protesters who forced the town to a standstill on Tuesday, demanding electricity supply and land.
The enraged protesters forced businesses and schools to their knees, threatening violence should they not close their doors. They left them with little choice and businessmen and schools heeded their call, putting the safety of pupils and clients first. Tourism, which is a big source of income for this town, has also been severely hampered as a result.
Prospective visitors and other commuters on their way to Sabie couldn’t enter the town that morning. A truck was set alight by the furious protesters.
The truck was loaded with York Timbers’ wood. Yesterday, York Timbers’ Kirsten Coetzee said that the incident had been reported to the police and that investigations were underway.
Protester Mr Dumisani Makamu explained what had infuriated the hundreds that took to the streets where they chanted and burned tyres on Tuesday morning: “We’ve been asking for electricity supply to all of our homes for years. We have also made it clear that we need land to live on. The Thaba Chweu Municipality has failed to provide us with these things. We will not stop this protest until either the municipal manager or the premier comes here to address these issues in person.”
The protest flared up a number of times during the week. A woman who does not want to be named, said that she feared for her life: “These people threaten us with violence if we don’t keep our businesses closed. On top of the intimidation, we’ve seen trucks being set on fire.” The woman said that she was frustrated with the fact that the protests had cut off the town’s cash flow. “As long as these protests continue, we can’t generate more money for our town. We need to generate money to empower our town and its people.”
The DA’s provincial leader, Mr James Masango, issued a media release on Tuesday, stating that the premier, Mr David Mabuza, had allowed the situation in the town to deteriorate. He added that, according to residents, the ongoing protest action was due to ANC members fighting for recognition and positions, and not service delivery issues. The premier’s office was asked for comments on the allegations. No reply has been received from his office yet. The premier’s office also failed to comment on rumours that the protesters’ former leader, Mr Paul Rokgotsonyane, was given a car in exchange for his quitting to fuel the fire of the protests.
Lowvelder came across a group of tourists who were on their way to Sabie when Tuesday’s protests erupted. Ms Daniel Fried would have travelled to Sabie, but was advised by police to avoid the dangerous town. “I feel more sad than scared. We really wanted to see the panorama. Our opportunity to do that is now. If we can’t access the town today, we’ll probably never, ever see it.”
Locals were worried that an event boosting the tourism industry, the Ashburton Sabie Classic, would be postponed as a result of the protests. However, director of Mountain Bike for Cycling South Africa, Mr Brett Coates, said that the race would continue.
The monetary loss the town would suffer as a result of the protests, was put to Makamu. “I understand this,” he said on Wednesday. “But right now, continuing with our fight is more important than the town’s businesses making money.” Makamu said that he had been living in Sabie for 21 years. During this time, the municipality hadn’t provided his neighbourhood with electricity connections. “We have to make illegal ones,” he said.
He also said that the shortage of land for the people in the area had been a concern for years.
Another protester, Mr Moses Ndlovu, said that the strike would go on and would keep gaining momentum as long as their demands had not been met in full. “We go forward!” he chanted as he rolled a burning tyre across the street.
Ndlovu said that residents of Sabie had a lot to be thankful for, as times had changed: “In the past, these protests involved killing people. Today, we don’t do that. We just burn tyres. In doing so, we are expressing ourselves in the same way that those before us did in the apartheid era.”
In September last year, protesters also placed the town on lockdown to express their dissatisfaction with the lack of water in Simile, a settlement just outside town. Protesters said that upgrades at informal settlements such as Harmony Hill and Simile were overdue.
Their concerns were listed in a service delivery memorandum handed over to the Thaba Chweu Municipality. On February 4, a large group gathered in front of the municipal buildings. They reiterated their demand for water and electricity supply. The group demanded that commercial forestry land should be used for houses. Thaba Chweu Municipality (TCM) spokesman Mr Phuleng Mapheto said the municipality had been working diligently to resolve the community’s issues.
“On February 8, the protesters’ leadership was addressed. We’ve been in continuous communication with the community and stakeholders.” Mapheto said that TCM, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Gogta) and delegates from the Department of Human Settlements recently held a meeting, where they resolved most problems raised during previous protests. He said talks between the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency and the Department of Human Settlements were also underway.
“Most land in Sabie is privately owned. TCM, Gocta and others are working at transferring land back to the municipality, to accommodate the town’s residents. Capital, budgeting and proper planning are needed. These processes take time.”
To Makamu, one minute more without access to electricity, sufficient land and water will be a minute too long. “We don’t have proper roads. When an ambulance fetches a patient around here, we need to push the patient to the main road in a wheelbarrow. Where have our rights to having basic needs met gone? What about our human dignity?”
Mapheto claimed the protesters had been motivated by other factors. “We (TCM) feel this protest is not (about) service delivery, but hooliganism and criminality.” By Thursday, the atmosphere in Sabie was unchanged. The police’s Tactical Response Team (TRT) was keeping an eye on protesters, Lowvelder’s repeated enquiries as to whether any more arrests had been made remained unanswered. We also enquired, with no luck, whether anyone had been arrested for burning a truck on the Sabie/ Graskop road.
More photos of the strike:
