On Monday, City of Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, finally faced the disgruntled Alexandra township after ignoring the community's calls to meet for close to a week. It turned out to be a tense engagement that did not last very long.
As reported by Times Live, the mayor's visit came after the dust had settled behind President Cyril Ramaphosa's parade on Thursday, where his authority in the province was questioned by the president.
Herman Mashaba heckled at Alex community meeting Ramaphosa had pleaded with the Alex community, to allow Mashaba, who at the time, had not shown up in seven days since the protests broke out, a chance to perform his duties.
Read DA's Alan Winde wants ANC removed from elections over Alex, N2 protests
The community had vowed to maintain order and allow Mashaba time but the results of Monday's engagement was nothing close to convivial.
Gathered at the Marlboro Community Centre in Alex, the mayor's attempts to engage with the community leadership, as part of the Integrated Development Plan, were trampled on by factions in the crowd who did not want to hear him speak.
This was also going to be Mashaba's platform to expose the names of the ANC officials he has accused of illegally benefitting from the R1-billion that was earmarked for the Alex Renewal Project.
This project was targeted at addressing most of the social issues that the township currently faces.
In 2001, several non-profit organisations collaborated with key figures in the private sector, as well as the government, to launch the project with the vision of changing the social and economical infrastructure of the township.
However, 18 years later, and the community is still up in arms about the lack of service delivery, appropriate housing and the huge influx of illegal informal housing structures.
ANC using poor people Mashaba After Monday's engagements fell through, the mayor accused the disruptors of being ANC cadres on a political agenda.
The ANC is using poor and vulnerable people, taking advantage of their plight, to protect the exposure of the Alexandra Renewal Project and the disappearance of the funds meant for the development of Alexandra, he wrote in a tweet.
Read Alexandra protests: ANC accused of using Bell Pottinger bots to stir up trouble
Since Monday's events, the mayor has been dealing with a lot of backlash from people who think that he had left the visit to the township too late.
But why, why now, leadership must learn to take community matters very serious. @HermanMashaba chose to walk his dog because it was a routine not to be missed, and the community meeting was long scheduled after dog walk. He must walk his dog in Alex, unless the dog likes Sandton
- Derick Thikithana (@derickshangwi) April 16, 2019 U failed dismally Mayor
1. U failed to attend community when they called u first time
2. Instead of going to Alex to adress community u go to Marlboro
U missed all opportunities u didn't act like a mayor FACT
- Willy Ledwaba (@FreeLefase) April 16, 2019 Tags: Democratic Alliance (DA)Herman MashabaJohannesburgprotestsSouth Africa
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On Monday, City of Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, finally faced the disgruntled Alexandra township after ignoring the community's calls to meet for close to a week. It turned out to be a tense engagement that did not last very long.
