The Nelson Mandela Bay Community Forum has given mayor Retief Odendaal seven days to shut down all projects in Coega to investigate if “outside” workers are benefiting at the expense of local residents.
Forum members marched to the City Hall on Friday to hand over a memorandum of demands after failed engagements with Coega management and ward councillors.
The group had been picketing and closing sites in the Coega and Markman areas, accusing businesses and the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) of hiring “outsiders” while they waited for employment.
Odendaal accepted the memorandum and promised to sit down with Coega, BUT stressed that the entity did not fall under municipal jurisdiction.
“They are key stakeholders and we have relations with them.
“We will make sure we explain some of the issues you highlighted,” he said.
He said he would revert to the forum and welcomed their approach of a peaceful march.
A fight about work at Coega and Markman took a deadly turn earlier in February with WhatsApp messages and voice recordings doing the rounds implying that councillors in Motherwell should be killed as they had failed to help the forum.
Addressing Odendaal, Ayanda Mangesana said he was a qualified artisan but had failed to get a job in Coega’s Industrial Development Zone.
“We are struggling at home.
“To survive, I need to beg for piece jobs and sometimes have to leave town.”
He said the businesses employed more people from Durban and Cape Town.
Forum secretary-general Sibusiso Matyolo said they were aware Coega was a state-owned entity, but the municipality had a responsibility to be involved as it operated within the metro.
“We request the mayor to intervene on the matter with Coega and the community, because we also want to benefit,” he said.
Coega spokesperson Ayanda Vilakazi dismissed claims made by the forum, adding that their demand went against good corporate governance and best recruitment and placement protocols.
Vilakazi said protocols by the CDC were introduced in 2002 through the construction of the Coega recruitment and induction centre, the first building project of the Coega SEZ, and was competently managed by the CDC’s human capital solutions (HCS) for the past 20 years, by consistently maximising local job beneficiation more than 80% on average.
“The CDC, like other state-owned entities, is subject to an extensive external audit of all its processes, including the recruitment of employees and the offering of training opportunities,” he said.
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