The threat comes after members of the community interrupted a recent ward 19 Branch General Meeting (BGM) held at the Westenburg community hall. Locals feel the current leadership is doing little in terms of meeting the Westenburg community’s needs.
Polokwane Observer spoke to one of the community members who opted to remain anonymous.
“The reason we stopped the BGM, is because the people of ward 19 is sick and tired of the ANC putting together the BGM without any community involvement. Members who are in good standing are not even invited.
We stopped the meeting as no one had been informed about this BGM. All we ever hear is when somebody is elected. We have never been involved to elect the leaders of ward 19.” He said the current leaders are the people that the Westenburg community do not want.
“These are the people who do not stand for the community. They have no interest in the Westenburg community in terms of its development and socio-economic development.
It is not safe to walk in Westenburg during the night, the street lights are not working. There is a lot of corruption happening in ward 19, from land being sold illegally to service delivery. If the government is not willing to come down and look at what the comrades are doing here, we as the community will stand for ourselves.
We will not stand aside and be made fools of as we have been taken for a ride for about 20 years now. IDP programme has been shifted to other wards,” he said.
Ward 19 Branch Secretary, Matlala Pheedi condemned the BGM disruption. “I can confirm that the BGM was disrupted by members of the Westenburg Development Forum (WDF).
The ANC has its own constitution and processes that run internally, but the local community thought that the ANC was going to take the decision of a councillor candidate on their behalf. We have our own internal processes and the WDF disrupted the meeting by wanting to participate, but the Constitution of the ANC doesn’t allow that.”
To participate in the BGM, Pheedi said, one needs to have been a member of the ANC for at least six months.
“We did inform them that we are at the same time not taking the final decisions. There will be a community meeting where community members will be given an opportunity to raise their views regarding the proposed candidate of the ANC,” said Pheedi.
