DRIEKOP- “We are not going to cast our votes in the coming national elections,” said irate community members of Frans near Burgersfort.
Residents say for the past 16 years, they had been without electricity, water and some of them have no homes. Steelburger/Lydenburg News visited the area on Tuesday January 28 to investigate the community’s problems.
The residents rely on the filthy Pororo River for water. They wash their laundry, which they share with their domestic animals, in the same river.
“We started living in this area in 1998. We were promised water and electricity by our councillors, but to this today our houses are still without lights and the taps remain dry,” said a fed-up community member Mr Lucky Makofane.
According to the locals, only rich people have access to electricity in Frans with the poor still relying on wood and paraffin stoves.
Ms Elizabeth Paka wakes up to fetch wood before the crack of dawn every day. She hopes that the Greater Tubatse Municipality (GTM) fulfils its promise of installing electricity in the area. “We have lost hope in our government; service delivery is a problem in this area. I share my room with my two elderly children and there is no privacy at all,” said the poor gogo, who ironically donned the ruling party’s kerchief. Her only hope of obtaining decent shelter remains in the form of an RDP foundation which they she says was built eight years ago.
Frans residents say they don’t want to see any party campaigning in their area. “We are tired of the ruling party’s empty promises; maybe the Economic Freedom Fighters will come to our rescue.”
Steelburger/Lydenburg News forwarded questions relating to the installation of power for this community to GTM spokesman Mr Thabiso Mokwena who told this reporter that plans to do are ongoing.
“Frans Village is part of the Operation Mabone Programme. The Department of Energy committed funding in November 2013 and soon the initiatie will start. It is anticipated to be completed before June, ” said Mokwena.
He added that the responsibility of providing water and sanitation lay with the Sekhukhune District Municipality and the matter would be brought to its attention.
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