43Durban - There was high drama in the Durban City Hall on Tuesday when disgruntled former military combatants of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army stormed an executive committee meeting demanding employment from the city.
Apla is aligned to the PAC. The ex-combatants were forcefully removed by VIP protectors and metro police before they could address the exco.
The interruption occurred barely five minutes into the weekly meeting.
Mayor Zandile Gumede was left fuming, demanding to know how the men had managed to breach the city’s supposedly stringent security.
As Gumede delivered her weekly report, one of the men, who did not introduce himself, barged in with both arms raised. The agitated man greeted the councillors and urged the city leadership not to panic.
“Sanibona. Sanibona, ningathuki. (Good morning, please don’t be startled),” the man said.
But there was pandemonium as a tussle between his colleagues and city security - security guards, metro police and bodyguards - ensued.
Gumede and her deputy, Fawzia Peer, were visibly incensed.
“We are not here to fight, we are here to speak with you, the city leadership,” the man said at the top of his voice. As he was being dragged out, he shouted: “We are not going anywhere. Why are we being blocked?”
Outnumbered, the men retreated. A screaming match between the two groups continued in the corridor.
Meanwhile, in the boardroom, upset councillors wanted to know how security had been breached. Gumede and Peer asked repeatedly, but got no answers.
“We have raised this before. We have said city hall is open,” said DA councillor and exco member Heinz de Boer.
“Who are they? It’s ridiculous,” said Peer.
Gumede said she would not allow the ex-combatants to address the meeting as “it will become a habit”.
“We need burglar guards in this door now,” suggested Peer.
“Once we allow them to talk, they will always come back. City manager, I won’t tolerate this. I am so cross,” added Gumede.
“What worries me the most is that when I came here, I said to (security management head) Dumisani (Bhengu), he must make sure that we are having scanners for people who come into city hall. The doors must have proper security.”
This had clearly not happened, Gumede said.
“We have cameras downstairs - can’t they see there’s something wrong? What if people came in here and shot us?” she asked.
Apla eThekwini secretary Bongani Nxumalo said the group had resorted to the drastic measure after their calls for employment, “through proper channels”, had fallen on deaf ears. He said their members were being ignored in the employment of military veterans. Instead, members of the ANC-aligned Umkhonto we Sizwe were getting “preferential treatment”.
“In the city, there are a number of people employed as security guards through the 2011 Military Veterans Act. We are being excluded - Prasa did the same thing, Transnet did the same thing and now eThekwini is doing the same thing,” he said. “We are now asking ourselves: What exactly are we entitled to? When we were in the revolution, there was no MKVA, there was no Apla - we were all one force fighting a common enemy.”
Tuesday’s action was aimed at proving to the council that they were “not afraid” to hold eThekwini to account and deliver on government promises.
“Our calls, text messages and letters were not answered. We are trying to follow processes. We have been waiting for two years now,” he said.
City manager S’bu Sithole said the Apla concerns would be addressed in the city’s military veterans policy.
Later, in a statement, he said he had asked the Durban City Hall head of security to investigate how the group had entered the building undetected.
He said security measures were already being upgraded.
“We are beefing up on cameras and access control. Boom gates are also going to be installed in the next two months,” Sithole said. “Security is an ongoing issue. The quick manner in which the disruption was handled shows that security is a priority.”
This was the third time the meeting had been disrupted this year. City VIP protectors stormed exco in February and March, demanding salary increases.
@Sihle_MG
The Mercury