Remedial steps to restore service delivery in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality must urgently be taken.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) insisted on it during a meeting with Dr Khotso de Wee, the Head of Good Governance and Institutional Development of the National Cabinet Representative (NCR) deployed in the Municipality.
This multidisciplinary intervention team was deployed in the Municipality by the National Cabinet after the Freedom Front Plus, among others, requested it because services in the area had collapsed under years of ANC mismanagement.
Large-scale sewage pollution has become a common phenomenon; untreated sewage is even being discharged into Eeufees Dam in the centre of Lichtenburg. The electricity infrastructure is in a serious state of disrepair, and substations are frequently vandalised, resulting in power outages.
Government buildings in Lichtenburg are deteriorating rapidly, while some vacant buildings are being stripped piece by piece with local authorities failing to address it effectively.
The vacant buildings are particularly unsightly and serve as hideouts for criminals in the area.
Basic services to residents, including processing and correcting municipal bills, are falling far short; the Municipality cannot be reached on the phone for days on end; and virtually no feedback is provided to residents who reported complaints.
Even emergency services, such as the fire brigade, are barely operational. Residents have to rely on assistance from the surrounding farming community to extinguish house fires and handle other emergencies. The municipal fire brigade’s excuse is simply that they do not have any diesel or water.
Following the Freedom Front Plus’s briefing, which once again highlighted these and other issues, Dr De Wee undertook to raise these matters within the NCR and provide feedback to the party by next Monday.
It is crucial that voters use their votes to ensure that the ANC is ousted from local government on 4 November so that communities such as Lichtenburg, Coligny and Biesiesvlei can be liberated from the ANC’s maladministration and corruption.
The Freedom Front Plus will keep fighting to restore a professional and ethical municipal administration in Ditsobotla.
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