The FF Plus strongly condemns the violent protest actions by Embalenhle residents that lead to the death of a 14-year-old boy and the destruction of government and private property.
The protest action whereby Embalenhle residents expressed their dissatisfaction with the Govan Mbeki Local Municipality (GMM) poor service delivery started out peacefully, but later turned violent and ultimately lead to the death of the young boy. Municipal property was also destroyed.
Torching a municipal building, which was rebuilt just last year and only came back into use in November 2020, as well as various brand-new municipal vehicles will do nothing to obtain better service delivery from the ANC-controlled Municipality.
Apart from Embalenhle, the GMM also services the towns of Charl Cilliers, Bethal, Evander, Kinross, Leandra, Secunda and Trichardt.
These types of protests in the Municipality have a severely negative impact on the local economy seeing as small to medium enterprises cannot function properly under such circumstances and it deters potential investors from investing in the area.
On top of that, the Municipality is not making any real efforts to create an environment that is conducive to job creation and economic growth.
And now the loyal GMM taxpayers are the ones who will have to pay for all the damage done by the protesters.
GMM residents must make use of the opportunity afforded to them by the upcoming local government elections on 27 October 2021, this year to stand up, stand with the FF Plus and send a loud and clear message to the ANC: The break-and-burn culture you created in this Municipality will not be tolerated any longer.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Aranda Nel-Buitendag on FF Plus
