Joburg council meeting resumes, protesters will be charged

Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba. File picture: Dumisani Sibeko/Independent Media

Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba. File picture: Dumisani Sibeko/Independent Media

Published Feb 23, 2017

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Johannesburg – The City of Joburg monthly council meeting has resumed after it was disrupted by protesters from Jozi@Work earlier on Thursday afternoon.

About 800 protesters stormed the council chambers after breaking through the doors at the security entrance.

However Mayor Herman Mashaba vowed that the culprits would be caught and brought to book.

“We know it was mobilised by the ANC because they came to the chamber West in Jozi@Work T-shirts."

“It is a sad day for democracy. The ANC cannot accept that people wanted change. Today we were going to approve an adjusted and amended budget using our priorities for the poor, but the ANC will not accept this," said Mashaba.

The meeting would proceed, he said, and all the coalition partners were in agreement, he said.

“I guarantee criminal charges will be brought.”

A Joburg resident who found employment through the programme said cancelling it would lead to an increase in the number of unemployed.

Mashaba announced two weeks ago that his administration would be re-modelling R1 billion co-production Jozi@Work programme.

Jozi@Work was conceived by the previous ANC administration and claims to have created more than 8 000 jobs.

However, Mashaba said there were claims that it was littered with patronage.

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The Star

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