The murder of Ocean View resident Nonqosazana Mthembu as well as a lack of housing, electricity and water caused the protest yesterday in Jeffreys Bay which saw hundreds of protesters block off the Aston Bay road.
Jeffreys Bay burns as protesters blocked off the Aston Bay road.
Mthembu was discovered in her shack at about 2 pm on Monday afternoon by the community who are demanding more lighting in their area as they feel criminals are operating under the cover of darkness and that proper streets are required as well in the informal settlement.
The Jeffreys Bay Police are investigating a case of murder and no arrests have been made as yet.
As the numbers of protesters steadily grew yesterday morning, the Public Order Police (POP) Unit from Port Elizabeth was dispatched to the scene.
At the same time a protest developed at the Pellsrus Primary School, where a large group of parents gathered to register their unhappiness with the appointment of a new principal who comes from another province.
The parents wanted a local appointment and have questioned the appointment process.
The POP unit split itself in two, with some of the Police remaining on the Aston Bay road, with the rest going down to the Pellsrus Primary School.
The Ocean View protesters eventually dispersed after the leaders met with the Kouga Municipality.
Kouga Municipal Manager, Sidney Fadi, told Algoa FM News that they will be relocating half of the community to a new area where sites will be identified for qualifying people.
“As a transitional manner we have taken a decision that we will take half of the community to an area where there are roads, street lights and water”.
However, the Democratic Alliance in Kouga questioned this process and asked where this piece of land is that has roads and infrastructure.
“It will only cause more problems if the Ocean View community is being lied to by the Kouga Municipality,” said the leader of the DA in Kouga, Elza Van Lingen.
We do not know of any piece of land that has roads and infrastructure that half the community can be relocatedto and Mr Fadi must come clean and tell us where this new site is situated,” added Van Lingen.
Jeffreys Bay Councillor Brenton Williams said that the the DA will keep communities informed about the progress of the dispute.
“The DA will continue to monitor service delivery protests and keep all communities informed about the situation. We cannot tolerate lawlessness, while the issues like crime, a lack of housing, electricity and water also need to be addressed as a matter of urgency,” said Williams in a statement.
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