When asking after one Siyabulela Phololo in Colesberg you are likely to be met with blank stares. That’s because here the podgy, diminutive ANC Sub-Regional Chairperson is universally known as Shuta – the short one – and whatever his deficiencies in centimetres, he is relied upon to compensate for in an accessible, humorous personality.
His peaceable temperament notwithstanding, the political position he occupies has been source of both respect and scorn, the latter often bordering on the extreme. Last year, in what he perceives to have been a politically-motivated attack, his treasured bakkie was torched. Since 2014 when he was serving as the chairperson of the local ANC Youth League, he has endured the slurs. He has had a few close shaves in his political dealings but he continues to weather the storms.
In fact, on the evening of our interview we found him in the upbeat company of ‘comrades’ and volunteers, fresh from some campaign work, with Struggle-era dirges blaring through bulky speakers out on the patio. In our coverage of the local campaign trail, his voice (theirs being the ruling party in the region) might answer some pertinent questions that have been cause of both protest and support in the area of late.
As a ‘persuader’ appointed to woo those disaffected, disillusioned or undecided voters into the fold of the ANC, what is his shtick? ‘We can’t run away,’ he says, ‘from that we inherited a big organisation that is old. So even a building that is 112 years old would have its own issues where you need to renovate and refurbish and get rid of others and extend.’
On this score he notes the ‘renewal process’ that the party has undertaken and accepts that the people’s ‘dissatisfaction in the movement … were orchestrated by people who’ve left the ANC today. They’ve done those things under the umbrella of the movement. We need to take the ANC through cleansing. We need to listen to the masses and hear what [they’re] saying.’
Coming a little closer to home he says,
‘people in Umsobomvu [Municipality] are not happy with their housing. They’re not happy with how the ANC used to hire, the services offered then.’ Specifically on the housing issue he mentions a pilot project that was conceived and subsequently frozen circa 2014. Now, said project, he says, ‘is up and running’ with 50 houses currently being built.
Furthermore, is the issue of ‘the middle class that does not benefit from RDP housing.’ To deal with their gripe, Phololo says the Municipality is the only one that offers sites at affordable prices (R5000 excluding transfer costs but no more than R10 000 when those have been factored in) to this group of people. Historically, there has been a tendency by this group to purchase RDP houses only to later demolish them to build bigger ones. Therefore, by demarcating a specific (non-RDP) area to them, he says, empowers the municipality to charge rates thereby upping the local fiscus. In this project a total of 150 sites were made available, 50 of which were reserved for municipal workers who often find themselves in dire straits upon retirement.
He also acknowledged that the Riemvasmaak housing project has been riddled with internal corruption. Government has since found that no fewer than 100 houses were dubiously allocated, hence they are now pushing for an investigation to bring the culprits to book. On the tragedy of the Ou Boks project, the dilapidated houses that eParkeni has reported on. ‘We can’t yet confirm that those houses are eyed for demolishing.’ CoGHSTA who are the custodians of the homes, he says, are doing inspections to ascertain whether ‘it is feasible to continue building on those walls or should we demolish and start them afresh.’
On the burning topic of jobs:
The municipality, his says, has taken a lot of flak supposedly for not following due process and rampant nepotism when it comes to employment. As such, he says, they have embarked on community outreach programmes and gone as far as insisting that all contractors give out forms to all jobseekers. He also mentions the ‘database’ which we reported on a few months ago which he says was ‘misinterpreted.’
‘We were doing an unemployment database for us to be informed. Currently, we are leading communities where we don’t know how many matriculants that are here…or security guards or operators.’ As such, the municipality’s goal is to develop local contractors so that all employees will come from here.’ Vehemently, he denies the allegations that the municipality often employs along party lines.
Also, he doesn’t support the shuffling of IDs (the process of placing the identity documents of job seekers into a box pretty much like drawing lots) because they seek to prioritise and empower impoverished households. But given the extent of unemployment and general poverty in the area, we ask, ultimately the numbers of the afflicted will always far exceed the number of people required on any given project, hence even that aspiration towards prioritising will ultimately not realise its objective. And there appears to be overwhelming consensus that the ‘shuffling’ grants everybody an equal shot at opportunity.
Phololo is not budging: ‘this was a process that the white man used during apartheid because he didn’t care about our living conditions. On itself that process [indicates] a lack of leadership.’ The prioritising, we continue, makes some sense, the database also, but the question still figures: in light of the rampant poverty and specifically for unskilled labour, would the ‘shuffling’ which is seen as fair and unbiased by the majority of residents not allay some of the flare-ups that have gripped the town in recent months?
Noting people who often have piecemeal gigs lined up and maybe would not be able to turn up for the shuffling; or those who don’t even have IDs; or those communities who feel that they have been marginalised and simply no longer bother; he insists that it would not be correct. But by his own admission, there lurk within the municipality nefarious elements, would these people then not also tamper with the database and by default, the employment process? No, he says, because now the municipality, through its community outreach programmes aims to play open cards with the people.
On the issue of electricity meters being blocked when residents fail to pay their rates in certain areas and not in others, does this not create the impression of preferential treatment? There are, he says, political parties that interpret this matter along racial lines but that claim soon fails. ‘Riemvasmaak is a mixed-race area,’ and the issue no longer rests with local authorities but is at national level and with Eskom.
On this score, the municipality is considering employing a total write-off of existing debt to all rate payers primarily because it has discovered many incidents of people who’ve incurred bills that are way beyond their means. Also, he believes that this will be a ‘first motivation’ to get people paying, thus generating more revenue for the municipality to start rolling out projects which they are currently cash-strapped to initiate.
He also encourages people to register as ‘indigents’ because ‘by law we can’t ”block” an indigent.’ Every household earning less than R4 400 a month qualifies for indigent status.
In conclusion he wishes to tell the disaffected voter that:
‘People who damaged the movement are no longer in the movement now. Most people are disgruntled because of issues of houses, issues of jobs which were done by people who were in leadership. The ANC has not done anyone wrong, the movement and its own policies…hence we are saying to people they should be open with us.
‘Our posture as this current leadership is to be servant leaders, not to be treated as kings. And when you’re a servant you’ll understand that at some point those you are serving must come back and tell you where you’re wrong. That’s why our people punished us in 2021 because some of us were stubborn to listen to them. So we’re bringing back their ANC.’
He closes off rather poetically noting that not so long ago what we now know as Riemvasmaak was some businessman’s livestock encampment. Now it’s a thriving residential area with lights and paved roads, so ‘ons het nie alles gedoen nie, he says, ‘maar ons het baie gedoen.’