Stefaans Brummer
THE R35-million funding crunch of the national peace structures reaped its first major casualty this week when employees of the Wits-Vaal region, the country’s largest, received two months’ notice.
The imminent collapse of Wits-Vaal, which has about 90 paid staff members and runs more than 20 peace committees with volunteer members from communities, bodes ill for the 10 remaining regions.
Dr Antonie Gildenhuys, chairman of the National Peace Secretariat, said no government decision had yet been taken on a request for an additional R35-million in the current financial year, and that notice had been given to Wits-Vaal as it had depleted its allocated budget. Two or three other regions were “very close to the limit”, while others had resources to continue for some time.
The Wits-Vaal regional peace committee and its local peace committees mediated in tensions between Inkatha Freedom Party-aligned hostel dwellers and ANC-aligned residents, brought together warring members of ANC Self- Defence Units and IFP Self-Protection Units, mediated in taxi conflicts and tried to combat gangsterism.
Meverett Koetz, head of police-community relations at Wits-Vaal and co-ordinator in the East Rand areas of Katlehong, Tokoza and Vosloorus, said no-go areas, “ghost towns”, internal refugees and taxi divisions remained, and the abundance of weapons and a 65 percent unemployment rate meant gangsterism could erupt again. Next year’s local government elections also required the input of peace institutions.
The peace structures’ financial crisis stems largely from election expenditure. Almost R19-million of the R34- million 1994/5 budget allocated by the Department of Home Affairs went into election monitoring in support of the Independent Electoral Commission. The Peace Secretariat said that only R4-million remained. The rest of the shortfall stems from the need to establish peace committees in the former TBVC states, and to pay allowances to voluntary committee members.