The ANC Youth league chairperson in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda region, Mandla Tawana says the NW405 executive mayor, Kgotso Khumalo and the municipal manager; Dr Blaai-Mokgethi must go.
‘The ANC must relook at their deployment and place better people who can take the municipality forward,’ says Tawana. He expressed these views before a planned service delivery and corruption protest march to take place on Friday.
He bemoaned the bad state of all the townships and town and the current lack of service delivery. ‘Everywhere you go there are potholes. Our city and parks are dirty. Potchefstroom used to receive awards of good Governance but it is now in such a state that one can no longer be proud of it. We used to be in the third position for good governance in the country and in the first place in the province. It is very bad,’he said.
He says other grey areas under the MM include a bad audit report, poor service delivery, the resignation of senior employees in the finance department, giving a tender of telecommunications to a company that is expensive and without advertising the tender as per procedure, alarming corruption and ghost payments that have become fashionable in NW405.
He added that the water in Tlokwe always enjoyed Blue Drop and Green Drop status but people don’t drink it anymore. He also highlighted the forced removal of people in an informal settlement in Ventersdorp without following the right procedures.
Tawana stressed that they are not targeting the MM because she is a woman. ‘She is a municipal manager who must account; this has nothing to do with gender. Other MMs have performed well compared to her,’ he said.
‘The protest march is expected to start from the Ikageng stadium and proceed to the Ikageng Police Station, the court and to the NW405 municipal buildings to deliver the memorandum against corruption.
‘The march will also address the abuse of drugs and ongoing thuggery in our hometown. We urge all community members to join in, no matter which political party you come from. Let us rise and fight to reclaim our municipality,’ he said.
Response from the mayoral spokesperson
The mayoral spokesperson, Victor Boqo, says the statement from Tawana calling for the mayor and the MM to step down is extremely unfortunate, especially in his capacity as the regional chairperson of the ANCYL.
‘He is a leader within the ANC and the party has its own clear procedures on how to proceed with matters such as these. It has never been the tendency or the tradition in the ANC to address matters such as these in public and with such a venomous spirit at that,’ he said.
He added that the executive mayor, as a deployee of the ANC in the municipality, does report back to the ANC structures in the region as well as the province on governance matters. ‘On Sunday, the mayor, the speaker and the whip of council met with the PEC officials to report back on the status of governance and administration in the municipality.
‘I can assure the people of Municipality 405 that we are doing everything possible to manage the municipality with the best governance and administrative principles. We take our responsibilities seriously and we strive to maintain the best standards possible,’ he said.
* The Herald sent an email to the council spokesperson for a response but, at the time of going to print, NW 405 had still not commented on the statement by the ANC Youth league chairperson in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda region, Mandla Tawana.
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