Residents of Holfontein informal settlement near Trichardt marched to the Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM) offices in Secunda on July 26.
They want the municipality to take action on service delivery issues.
These residents accused the municipality of playing mind games with them regarding service delivery, which included the Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
They claim the municipality has not included them in its IDP, and when it is time for the IDP meetings, municipal officials show up and note the residents’ service delivery needs. However, when they adopted it for the budget, their needs were not included.
“We are only told about things that will be done in other places like Secunda, Bethal, eMzinoni, eMbalenhle and Kinross,” said one resident.
“Our place, Holfonetin, is never included.”
Other demands the residents had included getting title deeds, electricity, street lights, waste removal, toilets, and transport for their children to and from school, schools and RDP houses.
Residents from the Holfontein settlement had previously blocked the N17 highway with burning tyres to demand services from the municipality.
Officials from the municipality’s communications department then claimed it was impossible because the land they were living on was privately owned.
The residents’ memorandum was handed over to the MMC for Planning and Development, Thandi Mtsweni, after they marched to the municipality on July 26.
Mtsweni promised to hand it over to the mayor of Govan Mbeki Municipality, Nhlakanipho Zuma. According to the memorandum, the mayor and municipal officials have seven days to respond to their grievances.
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