The EFF said that a march was organised at the Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality offices as a result of an ongoing burning issue.

According to Ali Maloba, EFF Sekhukhune region Chairperson, the issue involves the council’s ‘disrespect of the party’s caucus and regional leadership’, which needed immediate attention.

The march took place yesterday, with members of the Sekhukhune EFF hoisting placards and posters in the air.

Some of the posters and placards read, ‘EFF Sekhukhune supports clean governance’, ‘Demands forensic investigation of Mamphokgo Stadium’ and ‘Demands forensic investigation of Leeuwfontein Sports Complex Project’.

The EFF walked in the streets singing as they headed to the municipal offices to hand over their memorandum of demands.

Maloba pointed out that their primary concern is the ‘lack of respect shown by Council Speaker Rebecca Lentsoane towards their representation in council’.

“On numerous occasions, the speaker has said on record that there is nothing we can do, referring to our regional leadership,” said Maloba.

He mentioned that EFF councillors in Ephraim Mogale are ‘denied tools of the trade, and the speaker publicly refuses to assist them in that regard’.

“The speaker wants to interfere in the internal EFF resolutions by ignoring portfolio committee realignment directives from the party,” he added.

He further accused the speaker of refusing the EFF Chief Whip’s deployment into the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) and cited allegations of ‘blatant disregard by the speaker of the standing rules when dealing with the party’s councillors’.

“We demand a public apology from the speaker and a future commitment that all EFF councillors will be treated with fairness by any rules of the council. We demand that our councillors receive their tools of the trade, and we demand that all communication from our leadership about our councillors be implemented without fail,” concluded Maloba.

The EFF gave the municipality seven work days to respond to their demands.

Municipal Manager Mogobadi Moropa received the memorandum on behalf of the council.