Legislature subpoena adds to SAHRC complaint against Emfuleni municipality

The Emfuleni municipality is being placed under increasing pressure by administrative forces.

A complaint against the municipality has been submitted to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and officials have also drawn the ire of the Gauteng provincial legislature (GPL).

Under phase two of Operation Vulindlela, Emfuleni is highlighted as one of the eight worst run municipalities in the country and is subject to national government intervention.

SAHRC complaint

The DA on Wednesday laid a complaint with the SAHRC, citing a violation of the right to access water and forcing residents to live in filth to due to regular sewerage spills.

Emfuleni racked up R562 million in wasteful expenditure spent on overtime pay for service delivery projects that yielded little results.

Additionally, the municipality returned R636 million of its municipal infrastructure grant despite its service delivery challenges.

“These failures reflect systemic corruption, mismanagement, and a disregard for residents’ dignity,” stated the DA’s SAHRC complaint lodged by Emfuleni North constituency head Kingsol Chabalala.

“The actions taken by the provincial government to place Emfuleni under administration, have not produced any significant advancements, and the residents still suffer due to poor governance at the provincial and local levels,” he said.

Emfuleni municipality and the SAHRC were contacted for comment by The Citizen but no response had been received at the time of publication.  

GPL subpoena

Emfuleni officials have been criticised by the GPL for not attending to service delivery requests and proposals set out by residents.

The standing committee on petitions said that roughly only 12% of petitions submitted to the municipality received a formal response – some dating back to 2013.

“Alarmingly, no senior accountable officials from Emfuleni were present to respond to the remaining seven petitions or to account to the committee or the petitioners,” the GPL said on Thursday.

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Issues addressed in the unresolved petitions include the hijacking of properties, municipal rates disputes, relocation of informal settlement residents and a government housing project.

The lack of response by the municipality has prompted the GPL to take further steps to receive answers.

“As a result, the committee has taken a firm and decisive decision. Emfuleni municipality will be subpoenaed to appear before the committee in the coming weeks.

“This is to ensure full accountability and progress on the petitions which remain unresolved to this day. The residents of Emfuleni deserve answers – not continued neglect.

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