Matatiele residents will on Wednesday protest against the incorporation of the area into the Eastern Cape.
“The people of Matatiele will be reviving a rolling mass action against the incorporation of the area into Eastern Cape by the ANC,” Mass-Action Organising Committee spokesperson Mandla Galo said in a statement.
The action was intended to force Co-operative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka to announce whether the area would stay in the Eastern Cape or not.
Galo said according to a ballot conducted in October 2008, a total of 87 percent of residents voted to be incorporated into KwaZulu-Natal.
“Shiceka committed that people would know their fate before 25
December 2008. It is now 2011 and the people are still kept in limbo.”
According to Galo in August 2005 the ANC took the decision to incorporate the area into Eastern Cape without consulting the affected people.
He said residents had since used peaceful means to express their opposition to the decision.
“The angle is to take away power from them by not voting for the ANC. Shiceka is a liar and we want to expose him. If he does not respond in 21 days we will take the matter to President Jacob Zuma.”
Shiceka's spokeswoman Vuyelwa Vika said the department was not aware of the planned march.
“The national Cabinet advised the minister to test the views of the individuals on the demarcation of Matatiele. This was done in late 2009 and early 2010. We have since submitted the report to the Cabinet and are awaiting a response.”
A decision would only be announced after a solution on all demarcated townships has been reached by the Cabinet, she said. -
Sapa