While there are areas that have been without electricity for three days, garbage has not been collected for a month, and neighbourhoods have been without water for four days, the strikers and troublemakers are going to get their way… again.

The man who should take responsibility is Municipal Manager Mandla Mnguni.

However, he is missing in action and not answering his cellphone.

The information obtained by the Middelburg Observeris that the strikers’ demands have once again been met.

A council forum meeting has been scheduled for three hours this afternoon, where the agreement will be presented to council members.

This is not a binding meeting and is simply a rubber stamp for the agreement reached with the strikers.

The solid waste workers have also got their way, so that two of the trucks currently in use will be returned.

The expectation is that they will work tomorrow and on Sunday to earn overtime.

Overtime that we, the taxpayers, have to pay.

Before the strike, they were already working so much that their overtime was more than their salaries, while the town is on the verge of bankruptcy.

The feeling from the community is that the demands of the troublemakers should no longer be met.