Dozens of aggrieved Mamelodi residents took to Tshwane House yesterday, March 19 to present a memorandum regarding a lack of service delivery in the area and the metro’s billing system.
Concerned Residents for Service Delivery (Mamelodi Region) led the march and was supported by Saulsville, Atteridgeville, Lotus Concerned Residents Association (SALCRA).
Among the demands listed in the memorandum are:
– Scrapping of all bills in informal settlements.
– Fixing of reservoirs which led to health hazards such as leaks.
– Squatter camps being excluded from high estimated bills.
– Assistance with burial fees and transportation.
– Paving over gravel roads.
– Upgrading of “apartheid-like” school infrastructure.
– Upgrading of sports and recreational facilities to empower the youth among many others.
The memorandum was eventually received by MMC for Finance, Jacqui Uys on behalf of the metro.
One of the marchers, Jake Simelane from Ward 6 in Mamelodi alleged that the metro has deregistered citizens from POP benefits. The poorest of the poor (POP) is a term used to refer to the metro’s indigent policies.
Simelane claimed this was the final straw that resulted in the march.
“The challenge is that the people are unemployed first of all and rely on grants. Imagine an 88-year-old relying on a grant and then the municipality comes and says that you owe R4 000, so that’s the challenge that we have and on top of that they don’t even have food,” Simelane.
“Remember, everything is started by the people the law must be respected and subjected by the people, that’s why we are here to issue our grievances.”
Simelane also said that should the metro fail to respond within 14 days, a shutdown of municipal offices in the townships is on the cards.
Mpho Mabala, a representative of SALCRA said that they joined the Mamelodi residents in the march because they have similar gripes with the metro and submitted memorandums years ago that have gone unanswered.
“We’ve had grievances that we’ve sent to Tshwane long ago from 2017, 2019 and they never responded, that’s why we are here in conjunction with Mamelodi concerned residents,” Mabala said.
Mabala said that the metro should discontinue the Tshwane Ya Tima campaign, formalise informal settlements, and write off the debt of township residents.
“The service delivery has been poor… since the DA took over, our streets are filthy, our graveyards are filthy, and there’s nothing that’s happening in our areas. We need the municipality to come to fix our issues… stop saying we must pay our debt and stop being the middle-man. We must pay Rand Water directly, and pay Eskom directly. If you buy prepaid electricity for R100, Tshwane can take R65 from it and give you R45 worth,” Mabala said.
Mabala said the prospect of the metro not responding to the memorandum, the residents will stage a sit-in in council offices.
President of Concerned Residents for Service Delivery in Mamelodi, Oupa Mtshweni said that bills need to be scrapped as well as the Tshwane Ya Tima campaign because of load-shedding.
“We want to receive water and electricity for free, especially in the squatter camps, there’s no way we can pay the bills that they are asking us [to] while we stay in squatter camps and the government doesn’t care.”
Mtshweni called on the finance MMC to visit the area to gain a better understanding of why they are making the demands. He also called out an alleged preference for foreign nationals over South Africans regarding service delivery.
“You can’t arrive here and in a month already have a permanent place while some of us have been waiting for RDPs since 1996. They’ll leave [alone] the houses of the foreigners and come cut off houses owned by pensioners, it can’t work like that,” Mtshweni said.
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