The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s first two in a new series of integrated development plan (IDP) meetings ended in chaos after residents started singing and walked out.
As soon as a meeting on Monday at the Babs Madlakane Hall in KwaNobuhle began, residents said they were not notified in time and complained that none of their ward councillors were present.
This is the third time IDP meetings in Kwanobuhle have not managed to sit over the last year.
Kwanobuhle resident and ANC Youth League regional secretary Luyolo Nqakula said there were elected community representatives and none of them were at the meeting because they were not told.
“This is wrong. You can’t chair this meeting,” Nqakula said, referring to DA councilllor Masixole Zinto.
“This meeting is meant to be led by the councillors of this ward.
“You guys are pitting us against our councillors which is wrong. Our councilllors told us they were only informed yesterday about this meeting.
“This meeting must collapse,” Nqakula said.
Belinda Majola said residents from Ward 46 burnt tyres just last week and none of the grievances raised during that protest were being discussed at the meeting.
Majola said she expected DA councillor and human settlements political head Nqaba Bhanga to address them.
Bhanga chaired a meeting which was also disrupted in the last round of IDP meetings.
“I wanted to tell Bhanga what was on my mind because it doesn’t help you guys coming here to tell us about the budget when there was no participation from the residents,” Majola said.
Another resident from Ward 45 said not a single item discussed at a 2016 IDP meeting had been implemented.He said black people were not a priority in the metro anymore.
The IDP session ended with residents calling for the meeting to collapse and they started singing before Zinto walked out. Another meeting, at the Jeff Masemola Hall in Khayelitsha, Uitenhage, chaired by ANC councilllor Nomsa Booi, also ended abruptly after she was told to stop chairing it.
Nqakula, who had made his way to the second hall, said residents did not want to be undermined and said the IDP session had to be conducted properly.
Nqakula said mayor Athol Trollip was not even at the meeting because he was at an Ironman public participation meeting which was “all he cared about”.
Monday was day one of a three-week programme giving residents a chance to participate in the budget process.
IDP meetings held earlier this year often ended in chaos.
The next meeting is on Tuesday at the City Hall followed by another on Wednesday at the Allanridge Community Hall in Uitenhage.
Zinto said he was disappointed that the meetings did not continue as planned.
“It’s a pity because we wanted to interact with our people and also clear up the myth that the budget is skewed towards white areas.
“We wanted to outline these things for our people.”