MBOMBELA – Hundreds of supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) marched to the municipal offices on Friday. They handed Mbombela’s executive mayor Cllr Sibusiso Mathonsi a memorandum of their demands, and gave him 30 days to respond. Otherwise they would make Mbombela ungovernable, said Mr Collen Sedibe, provincial leader of the EFF.
He led the march from Andrew Street through the central business district, accompanied by police and municipal traffic officials. Upon gaining entry to the municipal complex, he read out the demands.
These centred around appointments made in Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) as well as service-delivery issues.
In broad terms the EFF wants the use of water tankers to be scrapped and water services to be provided. It wants RDP houses to go to the poor, especially those in rural areas. The EFF is against the proposed amalgamation with Umjindi Local Municipality.
“MLM is failing as it stands now,” Sedibe said. The party demanded that the removal of street vendors from the city’s streets to be suspended, until they have been given the opportunity to apply for permits.
It demanded to know how MLM will create employment, especially for the youth.
The EFF also wanted taxi ranks in the Matsulu, Ndogawana, KaBoweni, and the WhiteHazy areas.
But mostly it wanted greater transparency in the appointment of municipal employees. This has been a contentious issue since last year when community-safety employees protested against the appointment of specialised security forces, a matter which saw municipal manager Mr Noko Seanego charged with fraud before the case was scrapped from the court roll. Former temporary employees were also crying foul over the recent appointment of permanent general workers in MLM.
Mathonsi told the press after receiving the memorandum that the municipality would investigate the allegations and respond accordingly.
He said MLM’s employment policy adhered to the Labour Relations Act and it received more than 11 000 applications for the general-workers positions.
“We have a policy and people must follow the right processes.”
- See more pictures from the march here.
