Concerned resident, Matjhabeng:
The executive mayor of Matjhabeng, Thanduxolo Khalipha, seems to be better than his predecessor in terms of paying attention to service delivery.
Immediately after he was inaugurated, he was seen trying to revive service delivery in Matjhabeng.
In Welkom, he roped in people from different communities because of the enormous problem of service delivery that had been caused by the ANC and that affects all Matjhabeng communities.
Let me hastily say that his endeavour to solve service delivery in this manner is a futile exercise.
I say this because a town or a city is not taken care of in this way. For a town or a city to be effectively and efficiently taken care of, it must have an organised labour force, equipment and implements that belong to the town or the city, like it was prior to the ANC taking over the local government.
When the new political dispensation was ushered in, the ANC made a mistake by showing the vast municipal labour force an exit. As if it was not enough, all equipment and implements that were used by the erstwhile local government disappeared.
It was replaced by the tender system, which permits the ANC officials and their cronies to loot municipality funds. Matjhabeng’s funds are depleted because of this notorious system that enriches the ANC officials and the chosen few members of the ANC.
This has resulted in Matjhabeng being unable to maintain our municipality, upgrade infrastructure and pay the costs. Now this mayor forces the residents, not those who looted Matjhabeng funds, to pay exorbitant amounts of money he claims are in arreas.
The so-called arrears are without any substantiated reasons or proof that indeed the residents owe the money.
The reason why I say this, is that the municipality is not professionally managed like it was. For instance, water meter readings are not regularly taken, or not at all, and the accounts are no longer delivered to the residents.
Another mistake the municipality makes is charging those who live in town differently from those who live in the township. Local government officials are under the impression that whites are all rich, when the converse situation is often true. They also make a mistake by thinking that government employees can afford to pay service delivery without any hindrance.
Let me make them aware that government employees are the individuals who struggle financially the most, and do not qualify for aid from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). This means that they finance their children’s studies at tertiary institutions.
Secondly, they are charged exorbitantly for electricity, municipal services, tax and by medical aid and security companies.
The problems which I highlighted above could only be amicably solved if the ANC does away with the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy, which has wasted millions of rands on few members of the ANC, while the majority of blacks are poorer than before.
The Matjhabeng Municipality must think about subsidising residents like in the past. For example, we were subsidised by the revenues which were generated by the municipality buses, nurseries and beer halls.
To lessen the financial burden of residents, I suggest that the municipality has its own enterprises such as the airport, hotels, shopping centres and so on. Whose revenues will subsidise the residents of Matjhabeng.
What I am suggesting was done in the past. Why can’t it be done in the present?
Lastly, and more importantly, I urge Matjhabeng’s executive mayor to implement the recommendations under the headline “FS economy must be rebuilt”, which were published in Vistaon 23 September 2021.
