Anda Ntsodo, the mayoral committee member for area east, has condemned the behaviour of those who disrupted his presentation of the Khayelitsha Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Draft Budget of R7 billion on Tuesday April 11 at Thusong Hall.
The budget presentation was brought to an abrupt halt after six men constantly disrupted Mr Ntsodo.
Yesterday, Wednesday April 12, Mr Ntsodo blamed a “few individuals” for protests that shut down his presentation and said the incident had only encouraged the City to work harder.
According to reports, the men had apparently asked why the presentation was not done in Xhosa when the City has resources to do that. People clapped hands and Mr Ntsodo and some City officials put off the meeting until further notice for security reasons.
Asked if he would go back to present the budget again, Mr Ntsodo said: “They don’t care about more than 1 million who need service delivery in Khayelitsha. They want to see the Khayelitsha community angry and more poor. We come with a big budget to Khayelitsha and now they disturb it.
“People always say we do not deliver and when we do that they block us. But there was disinformation about the whole thing. This is energising us to do more,” he said.
He partly blamed Khayelitsha councillors which he said were present but could not do anything. He, however, vowed that the City would go back and deliver to the people of Khayelitsha.
“When I was about to present, the mike was put off. And when one guy asked why the presentation was not done in isiXhosa and some people clapped hands, I could see that was a strategy to block me.
“All the Khayelitsha councillors were present but strangely they couldn’t say a word. But as I said, we will deliver this and other Khayelitsha projects,” he told Vukani.
He said the behaviour of the few individuals was disrespectful to people who wanted to hear the budget and who want service delivery.
He said the more than 250 people who attended the budget meeting left peacefully and unharmed.
Ward 94 and Sub-council 10 chairperson Patrick Mngxunyeni denied that those who disrupted the meeting were sent by others.
He said the group is known to be uncontrollable in Khayelitsha. He said the person who disrupted the meeting is the same person who caused problems at the IEC stations in the last local government election.
“Ntsodo may imply that the group was sent but that is not the case. That guy is known.
“We asked him after the meeting and he told us they refused him a mike to speak. But the language barrier was a fact. They shouldn’t have tabled that in English when Khayelitsha is a Xhosa-speaking area. But I do not condone the anarchy that happened,” he said.
He further advised that because Khayelitsha is ruled by the African National Congress (ANC), it would be advisable that the chairperson come from the ANC.
Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF) chairperson Ndithini Tyhido said the forum appreciates the opportunity afforded to them by the City and especially Mr Ntsodo.
He, however, said it was a pity the meeting was stopped and the KDF could not attend. But he said the budget meeting should have been better advertised so that people could attend in numbers.
One resident who attended the meeting blamed the parties for what she called a “drama”. She said the presentation should have continued because there was no danger.
“They were scared for nothing. They should have continued with the presentation. But the other guys were also out of order. They wanted to ask questions before the event even started. One rushed to grab the mike and it was a drama,” she told Vukani.