Patrick Mholo, Matjhabeng:
Our ruling party, the ANC, has failed and continues to fail residents even when children in our communities are dying everyday because of alleged poisonous food bought from both domestic and foreign national spaza shops.
It seems our politicians are more concerned about motions of no confidence, which are not properly thought through, and ignore the safety, well-being and health conditions of residents.
There is no sign of political will to deal decisively with or enforce by-laws and immigration laws, for reasons known to them and them alone.
Our Departments of Labour and Home Affairs, and police force claim not to have enough resources both human and financial.
The influx of illegal foreign nationals in our country is a very sensitive one, but one that must be addressed.
Therefore, I would like to propose that our ward committee members, who reside within our communities and are familiar with challenges, be trained on health issues such as what to look out for and inspection techniques.
I am sure every ward has a properly constituted ward committee whose members receive a monthly stipend from our municipality, but the Department of Health and Home Affairs must provide this necessary training to ward committee members.
They should randomly check the expiry dates of food items sold by all tuck shops, owned by both domestic and foreign nationals alike.
In addition, verifying whether the goods are procured from reputable suppliers, whether there are proper toilet facilities for shop attendants to relieve themselves, checking for drugs and illegal firearms, whether they are tax compliant, and are in possession of proper documentation.
These should be done randomly in collaboration with members of the community policing forum (CPF), local councillors from all political parties, community development workers (CDW), and ward committees themselves to avoid the usual temptations of bribery or extortions.
These shops must be profiled, ward by ward. Where non-compliance is found, have these businesses closed in the interest of communities. Nothing xenophobic about this.
Unless we become proactive and deal with this problem now, we are in for serious acts of criminality and xenophobic attacks when communities become “gatvol”, which I foresee but do not promote.
Secondly, every building in the Welkom CBD must be profiled and accounted for.
Rezoning and business licences must be applied for.
It cannot be that our people are forced throughout winter to stay in shacks while those alleged to be in our country illegally are occupying buildings made of brick and mortar.
Lastly, efforts must be made to enforce our animal pound policy.
A large herd of cattle can be seen in the middle of our neighbourhoods daily; not grazing on grass but waste, later to be sold to bereaved families for funerals and others rituals.
This poses serious health risks.
Our municipalities cannot be seen to be passionate with projects favourable to tenderpreneurs and ignore everything else with long-term negative health implications.
The list is endless.
