An end in sight for Utrecht silence?
With allegations of corruption, nepotism, financial mismanagement, no proper recruitment processes, a draft of municipal by-laws, and no town planner, Utrecht and its municipality has been dubbed 'The Wild-Wild West' by some community members.
There is not much more that can be added to the current level of disrepair of the Emadlangeni Municipality.
With allegations of corruption, nepotism, financial mismanagement, no proper recruitment processes, a draft of municipal by-laws, and no town planner, Utrecht and its municipality has been dubbed ‘The Wild-Wild West’ by some community members.
An incident that substantiates this statement, was the alleged attack and removal of South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) members by municipal officials, from municipal grounds, on Friday March 13.
“The security guards beat us with their revolvers and threw us out of the municipality!”
These were the harrowing words of a SAMWU member, after security guards, allegedly on the orders of the upper echelon members of the Emadlangeni Municipality, removed SAMWU municipal employees from the municipal offices.
Last year, AfriForum took the municipality to court, after the municipality failed to produce documents to prove compliance with the Municipal Regulations on Minimum Competency Standards.
This was in alignment with
AfriForum’s away with unqualified municipal officials campaign.
Calls were placed to the municipality, but senior municipal officials have been unable to respond to the media.
Mayor, Joe Zikhali was, according to municipal sources, not in Utrecht at the time of the attack on SAMWU and has vowed not to address municipal issues in the media. There is no denying the issues surrounding the municipality are serious and need to be addressed urgently.
“We understand this, and we will be calling for a meeting to have these questions addressed by municipal officials and politicians,” said ANC regional spokesperson, Mafika Ndebele.
Mr Ndebele agreed it was improper for a politician to not speak to the media, and as the ANC was the ruling party in the area, he was hoping to address the matter.
A community meeting was arranged to address these matters, on March 18, but as Cllr Zikhali was unable to attend the meeting, it was cancelled.
Mr Ndebele promised to have the matter addressed.
“The media often acts as the mouthpiece of the community and we will address this matter. I have arranged for a meeting with Cllr Zikhali to see how we can move forward with this matter.”
