Municipality ‘fails’ residents

RESIDENTS of Harrismith, in Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality in the Free State, are demanding to be relocated from the embattled municipality because it has failed to deliver basic services in the area.

For weeks, the community has been protesting over poor service delivery and this week a truck was bombed and tyres were burned as residents blockaded the road with rocks.

Free State SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Montatsi Makhele said 12 people were arrested for public violence during the protest.

“Six were remanded in custody and are set to appear before the court again on June 22, because they have previous records. Four of them were released on warning and two will appear again on June 18,” said Makhele.

Community leader and one of the co-ordinators of the community Neo Motaung said the cash-strapped Maluti-a-Phofung municipality was no longer serving Harrismith residents.

“These people are taking our money through the services bill and using it to upgrade QwaQwa. Their service does not benefit us. We want to get out of Maluti-a-Phofung and the government can make a decision on which town to place us. We want to be placed within a town which is not rural like QwaQwa,” he said.

Motaung said service delivery was a major problem in Harrismith.

“These people (Maluti-a-Phofung) are not prepared to fix anything here. Everything is a mess. The last time they built houses in this area was in 1997. We don’t want shacks in this area, and they must also formalise the informal settlements. Harrismith has a potential to be a city on its own, but we are not able to achieve that because of the attitude of government,” added Motaung.

“When I say this area can be a city on its own, remember our demands during the protest in 2004. We said we wanted a logistic hub because we have all means of transport. The railway line and national roads – N5 and N3. Everything is here, but we are not given the status we deserve. We don’t need favours because we are capable.”

Motaung’s sentiments were echoed by another leader, Lee Moloi, who said they are fed up with poor service delivery from Maluti-a-Phofung.

“We are saying enough is enough. We want to be on our own as Harrismith. We know that the municipality is collapsing and we don’t care. We don’t want to talk about it, and we want to be on our own.”

In 2018, then co-operative governance minister Zweli Mkhize placed Maluti-a-Phofung under administration due to political instability, poor service delivery, maladministration, corruption, financial mismanagement and debt owed to Eskom and other creditors.

The situation also forced residents to endure sewage spillages in the streets, potholes and lack of refuse collection.

This has led to residents such as

Papas Molaza saying he will be voting for a change in the upcoming local elections.

“The living conditions in this area don’t make us happy at all. There’s Covid-19 and everything is expected to be clean. But, in this area, everything is bad. There is sewage and rubbish in the streets and the municipality is doing nothing. I think I should vote for a change in October. We need to get rid of the current ruling party in the Maluti-a-Phofung,” said the 56-year-old.

Tshepang Mokgethi, 35, said: “I will vote for a new leadership because

we don’t even know our local councillor. We have never met him since he was elected.”

Another resident Lehlohonolo Ncgana, said he would boycott the elections.

“I am not going to vote. Look how dirty the area is, because of the same municipality. Sewage is running all over the streets and the municipality is quiet about it. Things have gone from bad to worse. Even unemployment is rife here,” said the 29-year-old.

Local businessman Joseph Mphuthi said the sewerage spillage has negatively affected his shop.

“I had to stop selling bunny chows because of the stench coming from the sewage. It was a difficult decision I had to make because they were making good profit for me. The sewage has been there for years now.”

Rebecca Tshabalala who lives in a squatter camp, Mathlaranthleng, said she has been living in the area without electricity and water since 1999.

“Life is difficult in this area because there’s nothing. During the campaigns we are told that they would give us everything we want, but after that, they forget about us. I will vote for another political party. The ANC has failed us. I have been voting for the ANC, but things remained the same. We are in the dark with no houses and water,” said the 92-year-old.

However, Maluti-a-Phofung spokesperson Thabo Khesa said it was difficult to respond to the grievances from the residents because there had been interventions from the province.

On Thursday, former Free State provincial secretary and head of the presidency Sibongile Besani, who was accompanied by the provincial interim provincial committee Mxolisi Dukana and other officials, told the community leaders to table a memorandum with all their grievances, adding that he would take them to President Cyril Ramaphosa and revert back.