POLOKWANE – “We’ll believe it when we see it.”
Residents in Polokwane say the engagement session with the Mayor John Mpe on Monday night (September 26) was a waste of time as they left with more questions than answers.
Mpe met with residents over the ongoing water crisis at Jack Botes Hall to discuss interventions that could alleviate the situation.
However, residents say they are unhappy with the outcome. “I am not satisfied with the outcome of last nights meeting. I am happy that the mayor got to hear our complaints but he did not answer the questions! They did not even answer when we would be receiving water! He spoke a lot but gave no realistic answers,” a Welgelegen resident told the Polokwane Observer. The resident said she hasn’t had water for three weeks and is yet to see a water tanker in her area. She added that she does not believe the mayor will do anything to fix the crisis. “He is more concerned about turning Polokwane into a metro and not fixing the problems that they have known about for 15 years, if not longer,” she said. An Ivy Park resident told the Observer that Monday’s meeting was a waste of time for the community. “The arrogance of the mayor was written all over his face. There are no concrete and realistic plans to solve the problem,” he said. The man, who resides in Ivy Park Ext 44 said the area is in its sixth week with no water. “We have two reservoirs with a 13 mega-litre capacity but we do not have water,” he added. Chaos erupted during the meeting which saw residents come to blows with each other and Mpe calling for calm. The mayor John Mpe has called for calm at the the public engagement session at Jack Botes Hall after chaos erupted between residents in attendance. #polokwanewatercrisis pic.twitter.com/mV4K7Aa5lg — Polokwane Review (@PolokwaneReview) September 26, 2022 Mpe outlined the challenges the municipality is facing, adding that it is a community challenge and not a political one. “It doesn’t matter the colour of your t-shirt, as long as you are a resident of Polokwane, you deserve to have water,” he said. "As long as you are a resident of Polokwane, you deserve to have water." The Mayor John Mpe addresses residents at a community engagement session over the current #PolokwaneWaterCrisis pic.twitter.com/7YLMlKhamh — Polokwane Review (@PolokwaneReview) September 26, 2022 60% of residents surveyed said they don’t think the water situation will be solved any time soon as they city runs in its third week without consistent water supply. Read the full story in this week’s Polokwane Observer.
