Councillor Ntombikayise Hlophe, DA PR Councilor in the Emfuleni Local Municipality, writes:
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the Gauteng MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Lebogang Maile to hold all those responsible for the current service delivery crisis in the ANC-led Emfuleni Local Municipality to account urgently.
The state of roads in the municipality is appalling and there are potholes everywhere.
DA Councillors are constantly being inundated with calls from motorists who are forced to keep repairing their vehicles.
Evidence that the municipality is collapsing can be seen in the rapid deterioration throughout the towns that make up the municipality which include Vereeniging,Vanderbijlpark,Boipatong,Sharpeville, Sebokeng,Evaton and Bophelong.
The municipality does not even have graders, tipper trucks and hydraulic excavators to maintain its roads.
In August, the Gauteng MEC for Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure, Jacob Mamabolo, launched a road rehabilitation initiative worth R14 million to assist the failing Emfuleni Municipality after residents had been complaining about the condition of their roads for years.
The DA is monitoring the progress of the rehabilitation initiative to ensure that it is completed on time as scheduled.
To make matters worse, the municipality does not even have a proper maintenance plan in place for potholes.
The DA will continue to hold the Emfuleni Municipality to account until residents are provided with better roads.
