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Issue: January, 2020
Seven distinctions despite living in an informal settlement
Frustrated residents use collected rubbish to block road
Anti-crime patrol members arrested by police
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Fight for work opportunities Construction work disrupted at the Dunoon PTI PETER LUHANGA ILISO LABANTU
Upset by the lack of work opportunities associated with the construction of the Dunoon Transport interchange, some small business owners chased workers off site on Monday 20 January. Construction by Cityappointed contractor RC Civils started on the R42m site in March last year. But on 20 January small business owners from Dunoon stormed the site and chased away subcontractors believed to be from outside the subcouncil. The Dunoon small business owners say their companies comply with all the regulations but they can barely afford to fend for their families yet people from outside the area are given work on the project. Construction of the Dunoon Transport Interchange brought hope to many small, micro and medium enterprises
(SMMEs) in Dunoon who expected to receive work, but they have expressed shock that the contractor’s preferred subcontractor was from Khayelitsha. Entrepreneur Michael Caji leads about 33 SMME’s in Dunoon, and it is some of these who stormed the site. Caji says they want work opportunities, including sub-contracts, to be allocated to Dunoon SMMEs as they have the ability and technical know-how to deliver on deadline. Construction at the site resumed on Tuesday 21 January after taxi bosses intervened. A meeting was later held at the Dunoon community hall to address the SMMEs frustration, but media were barred from attending. “The City of Cape Town has employed subcontractors from Khayelitsha to do bricklaying, paving,
THE DUNOON TRANSPORT INTERCHANGE SITE was deserted on Monday 20 January after construction workers were chased away by Dunoon small business owners who were upset that work on the site had not been passed to them. Photo: Peter Luhanga
and construction work while there are local entrepreneurs who can do the same job,” said Caji. “We local entrepreneurs are struggling, we can barely afford to fend for our families. We don’t get tenders from the provincial government and the City,” he said. He said the Dunoon SMMEs started approaching the City’s project manager in November last year with calls to kick out the Khayelitsha subcontractor. Negotiations with the City’s project man-
ager started earlier this month, said Caji, and they received promises of work opportunities at the project. As that had not happened, they decided to chase the workers from the site, he said. Caji said the taxi bosses convinced the disgruntled entrepreneurs to let construction work resume while an amicable solution was sought. Detailed questions were sent to the City, but media liaison officer Nomawethu Tshona, responed: “The project
manager has just informed me that they are having a meeting with the Dunoon Project Steering Committee this evening, 23 January 2020. He, in consultation with other parties, will be able to respond early next week after they have formulated a response”. The City’s response, if received, will be published in the February edition.
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