A petition by Ward 9 residents to remove their ANC ward councillor, Benjamin Ofentse is rapidly gaining momentum.
The residents who have been pushed to a point of no return say they have asked the executive mayor, the speaker and the manager of housing to intervene but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
Justice Moabi, the community representative says ‘every time there is a project in the ward, he interferes and takes his own decisions. He ‘fails to comply with the required conduct in chapter 4 of the Municipal Systems Act’, reads the petition.
Among other accusations against the councillor is that he favours his group of comrades and neglects other community members in the ward.
‘The councillor and ward committee are not accountable to our community and they have failed in their role to perform their duties and obligations,’ says Justice.
He added that the ward allocation grant does not benefit the community.
Justice says the councillor has also been relocating residents to other areas without informing them of the dolomite risks involved.
A can of worms
After hearing these complaints, the Herald took a tour of the area and opened up a can of worms.
Deborah Sesing, the 49-year-old mother of a 28-year-old son (both unemployed) has been staying in a dilapidated bedroom with an open roof in Sepotokele Street. The two-roomed house was built during the Apartheid regime. ‘When it rains, we all take cover in the sitting room,’ she says. Justice says the ward committee should have known about Deborah’s plight. Deborah says she would be happy if the municipality would build an RDP house for her. Justice says most of the yards in the area do not have toilets.
Rosina Shange, a 70-year-old crèche owner who has stayed in Sonderwater since 1989 says the councillor should step down because service delivery in the area is non-existent.
‘I don’t have a toilet and the children have to relieve themselves in buckets. The piece of land behind my yard is overgrown and I have seen snakes in that bush. You also find people from the township dumping their rubbish and rubble in front of my yard. The municipality is doing nothing about these problems,’ she said.
Selma Khumalo is also calling for the removal of the councillor. She complains about the dumping site, stands and community projects. ‘He lied when he told the council that the ward residents do not need anything,’ she said.
Nobathemba Phaphama who stays in an informal settlement nearby says there are a lot of problems in the ward. ‘There is no service delivery. We need toilets, water and stands. The councillor is full of promises. My shack burnt down last year and the same councillor never lifted a finger to assist. He must step down. We cannot continue to write letters,’ she said.
‘These councillors do not know the power we have over them. We are going to make an example of him so that all the doubting Thomases will be afraid to stand for the next elections,’ concluded Justice.
As stated earlier, the community representative says they have sent the letters of intervention to the speaker, the executive mayor and the housing manager. The Herald forwarded all these letters to the spokespersons for a response.
Mayoral spokesperson responds
Victor Boqo, the J.B. Marks mayoral spokesperson says the office of the executive mayor has no record of the complaints of the said community members. ‘However, the executive mayor, Kgotso Khumalo neither appoints nor fires ward councillors. All councillors are deployed by their various political parties and, administratively, all ward councillors report to the speakers’ office.
‘Under normal circumstances, the executive mayor’s door is open to all public members and, at any given time, any community members are free to approach him. He will then do his best to address their challenges because, as a municipality, our duty is to listen to the public and accelerate service delivery at all times,’ he said.
The council spokesperson, Willie Maphosa noted that the attached letters had been submitted to the municipality last year, the last one being on 9 November 2017. ‘I will have to check with the office of the speaker to find out whether there has been a ward meeting since then.
‘I will also check with the housing division and the office of the mayor to find out why the issues were not responded to.’
*The Herald sent a media inquiry to Ofentse on Tuesday. He promised to respond by 13:00 on Wednesday but, at 14:08 his phone rang unanswered.
