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ActionSA calls on Gauteng government to dissolve Emfuleni council
The party wants fresh elections for the troubled Emfuleni Local Municipality.
Small Farm residents have to walk on this road that has sewage running through it. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
ActionSA has called for the dissolution of the embattled Emfuleni Local Municipality as residents bear the brunt of poor service delivery.
ActionSA launched a campaign in Boipatong on Saturday, pushing at for the municipality to be dissolved by the Gauteng provincial government.
The party, led by Herman Mashaba, was in the area to engage residents as well as to ask them to support its petition.
Section 139 intervention
Speaking to The Citizen during the party’s visit to an area where the Boipatong Massacre took place in 1992, ActionSA Gauteng chairperson Funzi Ngobeni said despite the provincial intervention 2018 of placing the struggling municipality under administration, nothing has worked ever since.
Ngobeni stressed that the service delivery situation in Emfuleni had worsened.
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“Reasons that were advanced for placing Emfuleni under administration included poor service delivery and the finances of the municipality which were not in good shape but when you drive through the area and judging by the media reports about the state of affairs here, things are just getting worse by the day,” he said.
What should happen if Emfuleni is dissolved?
Ngobeni further called for the provincial government to intervene.
“We are calling for Section 130(1C) [of the Constitution] to be invoked because we want fresh elections to be held in Emfuleni and we, as ActionSA, stand ready to contest because we do have the capacity.
“Another issue of concern for us in Emfuleni, is that some of the political parties and independent candidates who contested the previous Local Government elections, came on the ticket of opposing the African National Congress [ANC] but they are now working with them,” Ngobeni continued.
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The municipality is current led by an ANC-led minority coalition after an unsuccessful vote of no confidence against mayor Sipho Radebe.
Ngobeni said his party will be visiting Emfuleni on a more regular basis to campaign for the much-anticipated 2024 general elections.
“We need to conscientize people about the importance of the 2024 polls and not to stay away from voting stations,” Ngobeni added.
