Business community state concerns in open letter to municipality

Etli van der Merwe, chairperson of the Lydenburg / Mashishing Business Chamber (LMBC) writes:
To the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (TCLM) executive mayor, Cllr Friedah Nkadimeng, municipal manager, Sphiwe Matsi, and technical director, Sinenhlahla Manqele, and other officials. Clarification was needed on these points. A meeting was scheduled between the LMBC and TCLM on Thursday November 12, 2020 at 14:00 at the municipal chambers.
LMBC appreciates the fact that the mayor and representatives generously made time available to meet with us.

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Unfortunately, no satisfactory answers were received and your promise to provide feedback failed. We now have no other recourse other than to ask these questions in the public domain.
The public must be made aware of this as we have been trying to get feedback for months, if not years on some of these concerns.
The businesses LMBC represents, their employees and potential investors are entitled to know how you are planning to proceed to rectify the undeniable distress and disrepair in Lydenburg/ Mashishing and the surrounding areas.
These issues directly affect the wider business community and their livelihoods. As custodians, TCLM is obliged to provide us with reassurance that you acknowledge the challenges and are taking urgent measures to rectify the problems. This needs to happen urgently to ensure the economic survival of our town and its businesses and residents.
Herewith a list of matters that were not addressed in our meeting. Generic answers were provided that didn’t come to the point, resulting in our continued concern:
1. You admitted that there is no maintenance plan for road infrastructure for Lydenburg, Mashishing or Skhila. The project involving Booysensdal, fixing Potgieter and De Clercq streets, is a private initiative. This is on track for completion as per the contract, but you as a municipality are quietly taking credit for this project, while you have nothing to do with the funding or the actual work.
The roads under your management are in a dire state of disrepair. The chamber needs clarity on how this will be rectified. It is directly impacting our members and their employees. Tourists are avoiding travelling through Lydenburg/ Mashishing resulting in business being lost. It is also creating the image of a town deteriorating, and not of a vibrant growing community.
The chamber is thankful that heavy vehicles can’t access the town anymore. Unfortunately, they are still slipping through during the night. No answer was received why this is still happening and why our traffic department is allowing this.
Filling and fixing potholes are commendable, but definitely not a permanent solution.
2. Eskom: TCLM has an outstanding Eskom account of roughly R830 million.
The mayor confirmed that TCLM requested a bailout from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA). Everyone knows that this bailout is highly unlikely. Writing off debt by Eskom is not in their best interest, as they are also financially distressed and because of that it won’t happen. According to the mayor, the current account is kept up to date with weekly or bi-weekly payments made to Eskom.
TCLM couldn’t provide proof of these payments; the amounts involved and TCLM were evasive regarding the actual amount owed. The true figures should be made public.
The chamber is deeply concerned about the possibility of a total blackout in Lydenburg, Mashishing and Skhila. Keeping the lights on provides job security to thousands of employees working in small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME).
Each substation supplying Lydenburg/ Mashishing from Eskom has their own account.
What is currently happening is that TCLM is taking payments from the community and business members supplied by one substation and paying the account of another. This is unfair to the paying residents and businesses in that specific area.
One of our members reminded you that the mines were willing to assist with a proposal regarding the supply of electricity. They did the ground work of the investigation. This proposal wasn’t even considered and now we have another crisis arising from TCLM’s failure to take advice. The new crisis is Duma.
3. Duma: The elephant in the room seems to be the Duma Power Station.
TCLM conveniently commented that this subject is sub judice.
The reality is however that the representatives that met with the chamber were hiding behind this term. TCLM didn’t even provide an answer on how far they are in negotiations with Eskom.
In reality Eskom has already issued the notice of their intent to stop electricity supply to the Rooidraai substation in January 2021.
The deadline for petitions is fast approaching.
The dispute between TCLM and Duma, including the past agreements for repayment, has no bearing on this intended action.
4. Interruption of service in the central business district (CBD): Again no proper explanation regarding the cause or solutions to permanently resolve this was provided during the meeting, leaving us and our members in the dark again.
We are not sure if this problem will recur and when. This again caused huge backlogs at the licensing department, which is already drowning in a sea of unissued licenses, and workers desperate for a chance to do their work properly.
They are being subjected to the public’s frustrations because TCLM is not providing them with the means to do their job properly.
5. Water and Sewerage: this has been dealt with in the previous publication of Steelburger/ Lydenburg News, it seems results will only follow begging, pleading and shaming.
6. Waste: The mayor agreed that the landfill site is a challenge. According to the constitution a healthy living environment is a basic right. The TCLM landfill site is a shining example of the lack of poor environmental management.
Please provide us with an answer as to how you plan to solve this burning question.
Pardon the pun, as the burning question is resulting from the burning of the landfill site resulting in air pollution.
7. The stolen compactor (dump truck): TCLM confirmed to the chamber that the case is still under investigation. The mayor yet again conveniently didn’t answer this question directly. Has the insurance claim been processed and has TCLM been refunded? Why wasn’t a new compactor purchased then? By not removing rubbish it is yet again portraying the image of a deteriorating town discouraging investors and tourists.
8. The state of the towns’ finances: This can’t be swept under the rug. It is not a secret. We as ratepayers have the right to be informed.
By not providing answers it goes directly against the government’s policy and commitment of transparency. These documents should be readily available for public perusal at all times.
As public servants TCLM should be held to a different and an even higher set of standards.
In conclusion TCLM is ultimately responsible for creating an environment where businesses and members of the community can reach their full potential, resulting in a prosperous future for everyone. We as a business chamber want to play our part in this, but we need a municipality to create this favourable environment.
Thanking you and looking forward to your favourable response.