The Emfuleni Local Municipality (Evaton, Sebokeng, Vaal Oewer, Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging) was brought to a standstill on Monday morning 4 January 2021, when a large group of ANC supporters prevented employees from gaining entry into the municipal offices in Vanderbijlpark.
Residents, predominantly from the south of Emfuleni, are demanding the immediate resignation of the Emfuleni Mayor, Gift Moerane. The streets around the municipal offices were blocked, office windows were smashed and garbage was strewn around and then set on fire.
In the meantime, all essential service delivery came to a halt and a large area was left without electricity while water and sewage flowed down the streets.
The FF Plus had to urgently engage with residents from Bonanne and Stefano Park about purchasing an electrical cable to restore power to the area after it had been experiencing problems for five days and water had to be delivered to other residential areas.
The FF Plus strongly condemns the conduct of the residents who caused the damage and has already engaged with the Speaker of the Municipality, Maipoto Tsokolibane, in an attempt to defuse the situation so that service delivery can be restored.
The Emfuleni Municipality has been burdened with serious power and water outages for more than a year due to poor or no maintenance and outdated infrastructure.
The FF Plus has already asked the Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Lebogang Maile, to replace the Municipality’s administrators with more competent individuals and will not hesitate to table a motion of no confidence against the Mayor of Emfuleni during the next council meeting.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Gerda Senekal on FF Plus
