Dissatisfied community hands over memorandum of complaints
It seems as if TCM’s new municipal manager, Mr John Mnisi's, enthusiasm only lasted for a few hours, the Skhila Concerned Group (SCG) recently said when they were once again left in disappointment after a meeting led by Mnisi.
LYDENBURG – It seems as if TCM’s new municipal manager, Mr John Mnisi’s, enthusiasm only lasted for a few hours, the Skhila Concerned Group (SCG) recently said when they were once again left in disappointment after a meeting led by Mnisi.
After numerous attempts to address service delivery issues, residents of Skhila marched peacefully to the municipality under the watchful eye of the SCG committee to finally hand over a memorandum of complaints. Mnisi signed the document and scheduled a meeting immediately after the signing thereof.
According to Mr Mandla Mohlala, chairman of the SCG, the meeting was postponed until Monday when TCM promised to unpack the memorandum. “To our disappointment TCM did not address a single issue satisfactorily,” he said. According to Mohlala TCM said they still “needed to investigate”. “They gave us no clear answers. We are frustrated,” Mohlala said.
According to him TCM rescheduled the meeting for the last week in May. “We gave them 14 days to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and by the time the meeting is going to take place, the 14 days will already have lapsed. We will maintain our position and we want it within 14 days,” he said.
“It is just a diplomatic ploy and we will march again if necessary. We will also not slow the community of Skhila until the memorandum is signed,” Mohlala said. According to him the SCG planned to collaborate with civic organisations around TCM in an attempt to make Lydenburg ungovernable if TCM did not address the issues raised by the community.
The protesting community of Skhila entered TCM singing “We hate people who lie to us” and holding placards written “Ons is gatvol met die munispaliteit, genoeg is genoeg”. Some of the protesters sang for houses and others plead for clinics for the poor.
Mnisi asked the Skhila community to calm down and started to recite the memorandum in front of the community, reading: “The community demand maintenance of street lights, erection of tar road or pavement, job creation, and RDP houses”. Both Mnisi and the Acting MM, Mr Surprise Maebela, signed the memorandum in agreement of settling the problems and challenges the community is facing. “We thank you that you brought your grievances. I hope that working together will help”, Maebela said.
