The leaders of the Makhaza informal settlement areas in Khayelitsha township, Cape Town, held hostage a group of City officials who had been sent to listen to their grievances.
The meeting at the Desmond Tutu Community Hall on Tuesday ended badly when the leaders refused to meet with the officials sent by the City.
Makhaza has more than 10 informal settlements.
Lami Mngqelana, one of the leaders who attended the meeting, told Scrolla.Africa that they were not going to harm the officials.
''We kept them because we wanted the person who promised to meet us to come and attend the meeting instead of sending us other people. They were the ones who chose the date but also failed to honour the meeting. That alone shows they don't respect us,'' said Mngqelana.
The meeting was supposed to be between the Makhaza leaders and officials from Water and Sanitation and Solid Waste.
''Since May, services have not been rendered in our area. A date for the meeting was set so that we can discuss issues, including cleaning our area, the bucket system, when the City is going to add toilets, and installing electricity,'' said Mngqelana.
They didn't want to have a meeting with people who were going to take questions and report back to their bosses.
''We have been saying that we don't want the City to send us people who won't be able to answer us.''
He said when a large group of Law Enforcement officials arrived, they didn't fight or do anything that was going to put them in trouble.
''We were shocked to see so many Enforcement members. We were not keeping them there to do anything bad to them but to get the right person for the meeting. We also told them that we won't do anything to them,'' said Mngqelana.
The City's MCM for Water and Sanitation, councillor Zahid Badroodien, confirmed the incident.
''Metro police and Law Enforcement assisted the City officials to exit the venue safely.''
He said a follow-up meeting would be scheduled to address the concerns of residents.
''The City encourages residents to raise their issues amicably and constructively to allow officials to address these concerns efficiently,'' added Badroodien.
