DA-run uMngeni Municipality accuses ANC members of masterminding protests to hinder service delivery

• uMngeni municipality Mayor Chris Pappas has accused the ANC of coordinating protests in Mpophomeni.
• There has been an electricity outage in the area, which he said occurred due to illegal connections.
• While most of the area's power has been restored, municipal contractors have been attacked and prevented from conducting a meter audit before installing a new R150 000 transformer.
• The meter audit, which is the only thing preventing the lights from being turned back on for around 140 homes, will take six to nine hours.

uMngeni municipality Mayor Chris Pappas has accused the ANC in his city of coordinating community protests to prevent electricity connections in the Mpophomeni area.

On Tuesday morning, Pappas tweeted a video after a day and a half of protests, and in it, people could be seen handing protesters chips and bread from the back of a van. He alleged that ANC members were responsible for this.

Pictures of some ANC councillors, apparently planning the protest action and coordinating protesters, are in his possession.

But the ANC has denied the claims.

Protesters have been blocking the R617 - the road to Underberg and Bulwer from the N3 - but on Monday, they marched on Pappas' office. Dressed in ANC regalia, they met Pappas, but were not willing to negotiate, he said.

"We had Public Order Policing who had to disperse them. They ended up going home and then went into a different area of the town, and that is where we got video evidence of ANC councillors distributing bread and what looked like Ghost Pops or some sort of chips to protesters there.

"It also looked like a lot of whoonga addicts in the area congregating," Pappas added.

He also claimed an ANC vehicle "has been continuously following protesters and wherever the protesters stopped, this vehicle has been involved".

"We have evidence and an affidavit to support the fact that an ANC ward councillor has been transporting people between the different protests. We have taken the number plate of the different vehicles."

ANC spokesperson for the Moses Mabhida Region, Njabulo Mtolo, denied the allegations. He said the ANC would not assist sabotage and called on Pappas to "attend to the issues of electricity", adding that there was no proper consultation with the community.

"He is not on the ground consulting with the community. They have failed to provide for the people of Mpophomeni. They must not point to the ANC. We are not preventing them from providing services," he told News24.

He also told Pappas to desist from "playing politics with serious issues affecting our people and conducting witch hunts to lay blame elsewhere".

"Rather, this matter requires urgent attention to avoid further escalation as frustration is propagating by the day.

"Whist the ANC has deep understanding of the seriousness and the impact of this negligence of the uMngeni municipality on the lives of the people, we vehemently condemn the use of violence and the destruction of property."

The core issue

At the heart of the matter is an electricity outage which left most of the area without electricity. After power was restored, around 140 homes were still without electricity.

The municipality has since purchased a R150 000 transformer to replace the old one, however, City contractors have been attacked and prevented from conducting a meter audit, which Pappas says is essential before the transformer can be connected.

The meter audit will take six to nine hours, Pappas said on Monday.

"It's like your switch at home. When your main switch trips, you check all the plugs and then you put the switch up. We have to do the same or we are going to create the same problem.

uMngeni Mayor Chris Pappas.

Moeketsi Mamane

"We said we will replace the infrastructure and all we have to do is this audit, which will take six to nine hours, and then we can continue from there."

We are not being unreasonable

Pappas said they were not being unreasonable as a municipality.

"A transformer blew because of overload. When that happens, we have taken a stance, just like Eskom, that we must conduct a meter audit before we replace or repair the structure, or else we will replace it and the issue will happen again.

"We bought the transformer and are ready to install it, but some of the residents don't want us to conduct the audit. We've gone even further to say, where there are faulty meters. We are willing to replace them at a cost of R3 800. We will replace the meters for you where they are faulty."

He added that they also tried to assist the community with free power.

"So, when I got into government in November 2021, the municipality was offering 50kW free, which is very little. We increased that to 150kW, which is roughly R650 worth of electricity, which we are offering to vulnerable and poor households.

"We said we would also waive tampering fees where there are faulty meters. There are a lot of things we are offering as a municipality, and all we are asking for is that before we replace an expensive R150 000 transformer, that we be allowed to see what the problem is."

Police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo confirmed the Monday and Tuesday protests and said tyres and stones were used to block roads. She said the crowd was dispersed on Monday but gathered again on Tuesday. Police are "monitoring the situation".

"We are advising the motorists to use alternative routes."