FS a hotspot for service delivery protests
Damage to property to the value of R51 426 000,00 was incurred.
The dysfunctionality of Free State local municipalities has been laid bare by the 215 service delivery protests over the last three years between 1 April 2020 to 30 November 2023.
The statistics supplied by the MEC for Community Safety, Roads and Transport, Ms Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae, to DA questions in the Free State Legislature indicate that a total of 69 of these protests were specifically related to issues around the delivery of water, a basic human right that is entrenched in our constitution.
The replies also revealed that, during these protests, eight people were injured and damage to property to the value of R51 426 000,00 was incurred.
The Ngwathe towns of Parys and Vredefort were among the Free State towns who faced serious disruption in 2023 because of several service delivery protests mainly caused by the municipality’s failure to supply clean, drinking water to the community. This resulted in the burning of municipal JoJo tanks, and the house of the mother of Ngwathe Executive Mayor, Cllr Victoria de Beer, that was set on fire in January last year.
