Team sent to end Mooi River protest

Monday, August 25, 2014

Pretoria - A high-level rapid response team has been sent to the Mooi Mpofana Local Municipality to end the protest action, which is blocking traffic on the busy N3 highway near Mooi River. 

Disgruntled residents of Bruntville say they will blockade the N3 until their demands for services are met.

KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube said: “We are in communication with the disaffected community, whose objective appears to be the removal of the local mayor.

“While we recognise the right of the community to protest, we urge protesters to be considerate to motorists who use the N3 in the vicinity of their town.”

The Provincial Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department, which has successfully tested its rapid response mechanism in similar crises in other parts of the province, is confident its intervention in Mooi Mpofana will resolve the issues behind the current crisis in this municipality.

“We believe in dialogue. Unless we engage the disaffected community in talks, there can be no hope of an acceptable solution to the current crisis.

“Our pledge to the people of Mooi Mpofana is as follows: we are here to listen and to act in your best interest,” MEC Dube-Ncube said. - SAnews.gov.za