Joseph Chirume
Sakhumzi and Msindisi Nyendwana feel cheated by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality for failing to credit them for being the brains behind the Ingwe Park in Motherwell.
Sakhumzi and his younger brother are well-known fine artists in Eastern Cape. Among their achievements was to turn two dump sites into recreational parks.
One such is the Ingwe Park in NUI, Motherwell which they took several weeks to clear in 2018 before installing painted murals.
On Thursday the municipality officials who came to hand over the upgraded Ingwe Park to the community humiliated the brothers by ignoring them. The municipality injected R1.5 million to upgrade the park.
Sakhumzi told Scrolla.Africa: “I’m not happy at all because we started this project from scratch when it was a public dumping place. We wanted the dumping to stop and find a place for children to play. Officials gave us the cold shoulder each time we asked for assistance.”
Sakhumzi said it took them about four months to complete the project and they used more than R50,000 they made from selling their artworks to European tourists to buy building material and they also received donations of paint from locals.
“We were never invited to the handover. We became strangers on the project we started. I’m happy that the kids got more things to play with but I’m not happy with the way it was done by the officials.”
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Public Health Portfolio Head, Councillor Thsonono Buyeye told Scrolla.Africa, “My understanding is that everyone was invited and was allowed to be here. There is no discrimination unless they want specific invitation which is something I will not comment on.”
