Eastern Cape govt and villagers clash over multibillion-rand Wild Coast infrastructure projects

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11-11-2024
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News 24
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• Amadiba villagers in the Eastern Cape accused authorities of ignoring their concerns over employment opportunities in multibillion-rand infrastructure projects.
• Residents claim they were not appropriately represented in the workforce of the Mtentu Bridge project construction.
• But the Eastern Cape government, through Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha, said issues raised by the communities had been resolved.

The battle between the authorities and the residents of the Wild Coast's Amadiba village, over multibillion-rand infrastructure projects in the area, is far from over. 

This week, anti-mining civic group, Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), accused Eastern Cape Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha of ignoring their concerns regarding the construction of the R4-billion Mtentu Bridge near Bizana.

Nqatha is also chairperson of the N2 Wild Coast development political oversight committee.

Community leaders said local people were not appropriately represented in the workforce of the Mtentu Bridge project.

The construction of the bridge was disrupted on 16 October, after angry community members blockaded it, demanding that the authorities address their concerns.

The Mtentu Bridge project has long been subject to disruptions. In 2018, it was disrupted by community members, which led to the contractor abandoning the site.

On Wednesday, Vuyokazi Zukulu, a local resident from Jama Village in the Amadiba administrative area, said: "The authorities have failed to listen to our grievances. We have really tried to have meetings with them to iron out differences to no avail."

Zukulu added: 

We have so many people who are sitting at home while authorities in the project continue to employ people we do not even know. MEC Nqatha is avoiding us.

In a statement, ACC accused Nqatha of not fulfilling his promise to meet Amadiba residents.

"He was supposed to meet with the inland Amadiba villages in a community hall on Friday (1 November) to hear the reasons for the 16 October community blockade of the mega-bridge project. He went to the boardroom of the Mtentu mega-bridge building site instead," ACC said.

ACC claimed members of the project's Public Liaison Committee (PLC) had not been elected by residents.

The other concern by Amadiba residents is that they want the R20-billion N2 Wild Coast Highway project to be moved from the coast to the centre of Amadiba after the Mtentu Bridge. 

"The N2 (Wild Coast road project) can be a cheaper and more simple project in Amadiba with more local jobs and better connectivity to the region if the N2 is built in the centre of Amadiba.

"In addition, the new highway must not run 13km through critical biodiversity areas 3km from the coast. Pondoland Centre of Endemism (a botanical hotspot) is world famous. If the current route is kept, an international outcry against our government and Sanral is guaranteed," ACC warned.

But Nqatha has denied accusations by the ACC.

"On Friday (1 November), MEC Nqatha convened a meeting at the Mtentu [Bridge] project site boardroom with the leadership of the Amadiba Community Forum to respond to their petition," Nqatha’s spokesperson Makhaya Komisa said on Wednesday.

Komisa continued: 

The meeting was also attended by mayors, traditional leaders and community members to find an amicable solution to the concerns of the community... All the parties agreed to hold the meeting at the Mtentu project site boardroom.

"MEC Nqatha therefore rejects claims by the Amadiba Crisis Committee that he failed to meet with inland Amadiba villages," Komisa said.

Nqatha said in the meeting "all the issues" that were raised by communities, including how employment opportunities should be approached, were resolved.

"We urge communities and stakeholders to work with the [Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Local Municipality] mayor [Daniswa Mafumbatha] to prevent the stagnation of the project, as the latter will be dire to both communities and taxpayers. Law enforcement agencies will investigate all those who incite violence and threaten economic sabotage of government efforts," said Nqatha.