
Community of Suurman in Hammanskraal, Tshwane in a meeting discussing road project
Several drunkards disrupted MEC Kedibone Diale Tlabela’s stakeholders’ meeting last Saturday in Hammanskraal, Tshwane.
The meeting was held at Suurman Community Centre.
An enraged Diale-Tlabela addressed the media after the disruption and said the following: ” We are the government, and we won’t be bullied and harassed by drunkards who did not want progress in the community.”
“The disruptors came here drunk and when I started speaking, they started asking silly questions about my hat and said I can’t address them wearing a hat and that I must take it off,” fumed Diale-Tlabela.
“This kind of behavior is totally out of order, but I want to urge residents of Hammanskraal to help us as the government to develop this area,” she said.
“We can’t fear these disruptive elements who do this nonsense in the name of the community,” lamented Diale-Tlabela.
“But I am happy that the community has assured us that we will be able to work in this area and deal accordingly with disruptive elements,” she said.
“I hope that the law-enforcement agencies will do their work as we can’t keep quiet when people want to bully the community under the pretext that their actions are for the benefit of the community,” she said.
“My aim was to tell the community that this is not a big infrastructure project but merely a road maintenance project,” said Diale-Tlabela.
“Individuals like these drink disruptors always try to block any project that the government tries to implement in every community, and this delays community development, ” she said.
“This is why government officials are afraid to come to communities like Hammanskraal as they fear these acts of intimidation,” she said.
Diale-Tlabela said the maintenance work on the raid in question services two clinics and there is around five or six schools around the area and that at the moment ambulances can’t move freely to access the said area.
“We should have started with the road maintenance last week and now these drunkards want is to change the designated maintenance area,” she said.
“We are going to come for the disruptive elements because they are criminals,” she said.
She expressed joy in the fact that the taxi and bus industry, together with various community-based organisations are in support of the project and will safeguard it.
She said they as the government were making a call to the community to play its role as this is their project.
She announced that the road maintenance project is not too big and would be completed in two weeks.
The said road maintenance project will cost R28,6 million and is six kilometers long.
“We are going to hire labourers from here in the community on a one-month contract,” she said.
“We did not like the disruption that happened at the stakeholders’ meeting and people coming here drunk to demand a 30% stake in the project,” said Ward Councilor Matjeke, adding that the community was happy about the MEC bringing the road resurfacing project to the area.
“We can’t be disturbed by people who are drunk; that road project will go ahead as planned,” said the Councilor.