Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Patricia de Lille has refuted claims that she was held hostage in a shopping mall by SMME’s who were protesting on Tuesday.
De Lille, together with Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, conducted an oversight visit on the N2 Nodal Developmental Project based in Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape.
Today we joined Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Patricia De Lille on an oversight visit to the N2 Nodal Development project in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Gqeberha. pic.twitter.com/a2bdANHsWc
— Mondli Gungubele (@MondliGungubel_) March 8, 2022
This visit was interrupted by protesting small, micro and medium enterprises (SMME) who complained that the project has been on hold for two long and has left them unemployed and stranded.
De Lille, however, says she knows nothing about this hostage situation.
“It’s totally not true. In fact, the Mayor and myself diffused the situation by speaking to the shopping centre management to give us room to sit down and meet with the aggrieved small businesses. There was no hostage, nothing, only a demand to ask the police to release their colleagues. So, to correct all this, I am safe, I’m home in Pretoria today,” says De Lille.
The N2 Nodal Development project which is part of government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan, is a strategic economic and housing provision intervention programme in Gqeberha.
It comprises of around 12 000 housing opportunities, retail, commercial, office, social and industrial facilities.
SABC News Reporter Anda Nqonji provides more details on De Lille’s visit:
