Jozi@Work’s discontinuation sparks council chamber chaos

24 February 2017

 

The City of Johannesburg’s monthly council meeting was abandoned on Thursday February 23 after members of the Johannesburg Social Movement (JSM) disrupted proceedings.

 

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba condemned the violence that followed the disruption and said it had no place in South Africa’s democracy.

“This was a blatant attempt to prevent Council from passing the adjustment budget and bringing change to the residents of Joburg. We will not be deterred, the people’s business will be done. Those responsible for the violence and damage to City property today must be held accountable and I will be laying criminal charges at the Joburg Central Police Station tomorrow morning,” said Mayor Mashaba.

JSM members were protesting following Mayor Mashaba’s decision to discontinue the Jozi@Work and Jozi Bread programmes.

The two programmes have been canned because Mayor Mashaba said they only benefited those connected to “the previous administration”. He had said the Jozi@Work programme would be revamped and launched in six months’ time to provide more job opportunities for residents.

Armed with bricks and stones, they broke a glass partition in the foyer and forced their way into the premises.
Security tried in vain to stop them as they proceeded to the council chambers.

But Mayor Mashaba said he was not prepared to go and accept the memorandum.

Speaker Cllr Vasco da Gama adjourned the meeting. A few minutes later chaos reigned as the protesters stormed the chambers, ripping off the electric wiring system and tearing off copies of the council agenda. Councillors and council officials hid under desks as others scuttled for safety.

“I’ve given instructions to cancel the programme because only the same suspects benefited. Jozi@Work is dead and buried. We will devise another programme for all the people of Johannesburg,” said Mayor Mashaba.

“This violence is about preventing us from tabling our adjustment budget for the 2016/17 financial year. This adjustment budget is a vitally important first step in ending the rot and patronage that was seen under the ANC in Joburg. It is clear that the ANC will do anything in its power to prevent this from happening,” said Mayor Mashaba.