Pretoria - Regional leaders of the SACP, Cosatu and South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) have vowed to use the tactics that brought down the apartheid regime against the City of Tshwane.
They warned that they would embark on rolling mass action, including a consumer boycott, and they’d ensure no council activities took place anywhere across the city, including the ordinary meeting scheduled for Thursday at the Sammy Marks chamber.
However, mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale said the matters raised were being taken up with Sanco’s national leadership and that disrupting the council was illegal.
The parties have accused the metro of failing to respond to their demands and said they were meeting on Wednesday to discuss the way forward, which would include rolling mass action. SACP regional secretary Apson Makaung said despite the warning they issued at a media briefing last Thursday, the city had not responded.
“The leadership of the three organisations is meeting to discuss the next course of action, after receiving no information or attempt whatsoever from the city to meet us.
“The city leaders continue to display arrogant tendencies. In this city, you can march all you want and deliver memorandums, and they never respond,” he said.
Last week, leaders of the three parties blasted the city for outsourcing its two electricity power stations, the Wonderboom Airport and the old Pretoria showgrounds without permission from the residents.
They also referred to the ill-fated TribeOne music festival, cancelled at the last minute with millions already spent on infrastructure development and R10 million given to US rapper Nicki Minaj as deposit. The city has said it was in talks to recoup the money.
Makaung also alleged millions were wasted on setting up ward committees with the case lost in court.
He also mentioned the prepaid smart meters deal, which cost the city R830m. The city said it was negotiating the terms of termination with the service provider.
For these, the three parties said they would lay charges against the mayor and city officials for contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act. They also called for the municipality to be placed under administration. They gave the municipality three days to address the issues, failing which they would roll out mass action. The period expired on Tuesday.
Manale said the city did not respond because mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa had already dealt with the TribeOne festival and smart meters contract.
Pretoria News