West mostly backs Brink

Approaching 16 months into his mayorship, Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink has been called to resign by the ANC Greater Tshwane Branch for what they believe is a rapid deterioration of the capital city under his leadership.

Since a press briefing on July 19, the ANC has been reiterating its intention to call for a vote of no confidence against Brink in the next council sitting.

The Greater Tshwane ANC branch leadership says the metro is subjected to financial mismanagement that is carried out by incompetent staff, which encourages lawlessness to be the order of the day.

Bonzo Modise, regional chair of the ANC, who calls Brink the “mayor of video clips”, says that his governance simply papers over cracks and fails to address real societal issues that residents face.

“There have been a total of 150 projects in townships that have been halted since around 2022. The city is unable to implement those projects, this has led to the infrastructure collapsing, street lights not being fixed, dilapidating road infrastructure, and traffic lights that don’t work for months,” Modise said at the briefing.

“The city is unable to deliver services such as water to residents of Bronkhorstspruit, Hammanskraal, Mamelodi, Winterveldt, and other townships. Those with access to water experience intermittent and unreliable supply of water. We will not say people must not pay taxes for service delivery. We want to take the metro over and for that the rates and payments must be in place,” Modise said.

Brink, who took office on March 28, 2023, says the motion brought about by the ANC is nothing more than a feeble attempt to take the metro back to the days of looting, mismanagement and no accountability.

“What is very clear in this instance is that this motion of no confidence is not driven by service delivery, it is driven by new performance requirements for waste removal trucks and their contractors, which threaten ANC interests. Ironically, those new requirements are aimed at actually improving service delivery,” Brink said.

He says his government has made progress in stabilising metro finances, which includes a better audit outcome that has been approved by ratings, as well as recovering funds through Tshwane YaTima that also crack down on illegal connections.

Regarding underperforming staff, Brink says he backs his colleagues to act appropriately where necessary.

“As a mayor, I don’t interfere in disciplinary matters, but I do back the city manager and his team if they implement proper consequence management. You can’t have the rules being broken without consequences,” Brink said.

Rekord reached out to a few residents West of Pretoria to get their take on the matter, their opinion on Brink’s mayorship thus far and if they want him to continue.

Shonisani Mamelasigidi, who works at the Halaletsang orphanage in Atteridgeville, believes that Brink shouldn’t be voted out but continue to serve as mayor after what he believes is an improvement in city services.

“I am impressed with the leadership and vision of Mayor Ciliers Brink. During his tenure, I have witnessed significant improvements in service delivery, infrastructure development, and community engagement. His commitment to transparency and accountability has fostered trust among residents. Brink has demonstrated a deep understanding of the city’s challenges and has implemented effective solutions. His dedication to creating a better future for Tshwane’s residents is evident in every aspect of his work. I firmly believe that he should remain as mayor, as his continued leadership will ensure stability, progress, and prosperity for our city. Let’s support him in building a brighter future for Tshwane,” Mamelasigidi said.

Oratile Motsusi, founder of the Waratwa Foundation NPO that carries out community initiatives in the West and surrounding townships, admits to not knowing much about Brink. but knowing far too much about the ANC.

“It’s a difficult one. I am not following the guy, but one thing I know is that the ANC are sore losers. There is no one particular good reason why they are removing him. They are used to power and not prepared to let go, and whether this motion of no confidence destabilises municipalities or not, they don’t care. Theirs is power and being close to state resources. I don’t support the removal,” Motsusi said.

Hercules resident Johan Cloete says he doesn’t support the motion because he believes that Brink is doing a good job compared to regimes of the past.

“If you look back at previous regimes, private contractors received all the work opportunities and all the metro-trained cleaners, electricians, plumbers, guards, everything had to sit back and watch so why must we pay double for the same service,” Cloete said.

One resident in firm support of the motion was the Chairperson of the Lotus Gardens, Attridgeville and Saulsville Civic Association (Lasca), Tshepo Mahlangu.

Mahlangu believes Brink should have been out a long time ago, as he has done little to help township communities.

“Executive Mayor Brink never prioritised the townships and informal settlements since he took over. His incorrect template sought to punish ratepayers in Tshwane. The city was never governed by Brink. He outsourced all key services to the consulting firms whose interests were to loot and collapse our metro. Just outsourcing every key service to consulting firms, was proof enough that DA could not govern or run the municipality. He did well for consulting firms, not for the residents of Tshwane,” Mahlangu said.

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