#Gatvol: Fed-up Phalaborwa residents march to demand answers
MULTIMEDIA: The Ba-Phalaborwa residents marched through the streets of Phalaborwa chanting “Ons is gatvol” and delivered a memorandum of demands, requests and questions to the mayor.
The Ba-Phalaborwa residents marched through the streets of Phalaborwa chanting “Ons is gatvol” and delivered a memorandum of demands, requests and questions to the mayor, Pule Shayi, and threatened to march against the municipality if the demands and request are not met on Saturday 20 October.
Along with the memorandum was also a presentation, which was compiled in the form of two books and consisted of 964 letters.
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The letters were written by the residents of Ba-Phalaborwa, as well as school children from the primary schools in town.
The statement of terms was read out by the Rate Payers Association’s Chairperson, George Hepburn, while more than 450 residents filled the municipality’s car park on Saturday.
“It must be made clear to the mayor, the municipal manager, the executive mayor of Mopani and everyone working inside the building that the residents will no longer accept the lack of service delivery and blatant mismanagement of the money that we pay,” said George Hepburn.
He also said to the Municipal Manager and the Mayor that they should realise that the residents of Ba-Phalaborwa are ‘Gatvol’.
“The problem of dishonesty, misappropriation and wasteful spending has not been addressed and that needs to be done now, we will no longer be treated like second grade citizens,” said George.
In the memorandum residents also demanded and questioned the municipality on who are the people who have been implicated in the mismanagement of money as found by the general Audit that was conducted earlier this year.
They also wanted to know what steps was being taken to recover the money that was missing.
The residents also demanded answers regarding the water issues and the R180 million which was in arrears. It was also stated that there were concerns of faulty water meters which give inaccurate water meter readings.
Amongst other concerns that were raised, was the sewerage situation in town, where on a daily basis sewage is flowing down the streets. Many other issues were raised on that day and amongst others were the issues of mosquito control, free roaming of animals [which the municipality does not respond to], municipal accounts, state of the roads, electricity, parks in town that are in a poor state, and property valuations.
In receiving the memorandum and before addressing the magnitudes of residents that filled the car park, the mayor, Pule Shayi, took a moment to read one of the letters that was put up against a tree to realise it was one from his daughter pleading with him for water.
When the mayor thanked George Hepburn for having led the residents to the municipality to raise their issues, the residents applauded and cheered.
“We do not take for granted the issues which our residents raise,” said the mayor.
He also said that the problems which occur around service delivery between the municipality and the residents should be resolved in a manner which saves and preserves the dignity of the people.
