DA North West Premier candidate, Joe McGluwa, says the weekend visit to the protest-ridden Ventersdorp by North West Premier, Job Mokgoro, comes a little too late.
Last week residents of Ventersdorp took to the streets protesting and demanding the delivery of the N14 development project promised in 2006 and other service delivery related issues. A truck was set alight in the process and a van was reportedly stoned.
McGluwa said in a statement the truth is that “the failing ANC created this mess in 2016 when they proceeded to merge Tlokwe and Ventersdorp against public outcry and fierce opposition. Through the whole process, the ANC only used the residents of Ventersdorp to maintain and keep their seats in the council.
According to McGluwa the ANC never considered the consequences that this merger would have despite the fact that the DA warned on various occasions that the amalgamation will have serious implications on the municipality’s finances as well as negatively affect the lives of the people.
He said the amalgamation did not only let the people of Ventersdorp down, but it has also negatively affected the residents of Tlokwe, the municipality was once prosperous and has now been governed into the ground by the factionalised ANC.
McGluwa said Premier Mokgoro promised residents that there would be a special council meeting on Friday 19 October 2018 to resolve this issues.
According to Vuyisile Ngesi, the spokesperson in the office of the premier, a delegation consisting of all Heads of Provincial Government Departments was sent to Ventersdorp to interact with various stakeholders following the recent public protests.
“The Premier’s decision to send in Heads of Departments and other senior government officials to Ventersdorp is enable them to do an assessment of the community’s demands and seek to find lasting solutions to the issues that the community raised with both the municipality and the provincial government,” said Ngesi.
Read more in this week’s Potchefstroom Herald.
