‘We are being intimidated’
ALEXANDRA - Released Riverpark protesters believe their arrest was a plot to intimidate not to carry on with the protest action.
Riverpark Residents Association chairperson Tsietsi Kungoane said there were other avenues they would be exploring to advance their cause apart from the protests.
He would not divulge their plans at this stage, but said they wanted the intervention of the Premier in the matter. “We feel very humiliated and terrorised by the arrest. I thought we live in a democratic country,” Kungoane said.
The arrests came shortly after the residents boycotted a meeting at the East Bank Hall called by their Ward 81 councillor Mokgadi Radebe to address the issues around the protest, which include the installation of the smart meters.
Residents claim the meters chow too much electricity as compared to the previous ones and they claim these meters constantly blow off and catch fire.
A meeting was called at the East Bank Hall to explain the outcomes of the meter assessments conducted by the MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Matshidiso Mfikoe. “We boycotted the meeting as we felt offended by it being held in East Bank. Residents felt the meeting should have been held in Riverpark. We informed our councillor about the decision,” he said.
According to Kungoane residents were told the new meters were tamperproof. However, he said they don’t share the same sentiments as they allege some people employed by City Power were tampering with the meters.
The residents have since lost faith in their councillor and claimed this will affect voting patterns in the upcoming provincial and national elections. Kungoane said residents were now calling for the resignation of their councillor. “In the next municipal elections in 2018, residents will choose a councillor of their choice to represent them,” Kungoane said.
Meanwhile, councillor Mokgadi has hit back at Kungoane, accusing him of being “a devious character who is using innocent people to achieve his own selfish ends”. She claimed Kungoane had more than 20 shacks in his yard and feared that once the smart meters were installed, he would no longer benefit from free electricity for which he has been charging his tenants.
“I have been doing my job diligently for all these years and some people just emerge from nowhere and claim that I am not performing. If a clique of people feel I am not performing, then tough luck for them. Tsietsi has his own agenda and is using these poor people to achieve his own selfish interests,” Radebe said.
