Ventersdorp residents, who were promised the ‘land of milk and honey’ by mayor Moses Kgotso Khumalo before the merger with Potchefstroom, feel that their situation has worsened and they are sinking deeper into poverty.
According to one of the community leaders, Khuduga Dibe, no further services have been rendered to the community since the 2016 local government elections and the merger of Ventersdorp and Potchefstroom.
He says the Ventersdorp community’s main problems are the high unemployment rate, the lack of service delivery and the fact that no stands have been allocated for the poor.
‘The mayor promised us that he would create jobs in Ventersdorp and that there would be worthwhile changes in the area. To this day, there haven’t been any changes and everything is even worse than before. The mayor has not addressed the people on the way forward,’ he said. ‘We believe that Section 152 and 153 of Chapter 7 of the Constitution is non-existent in Ventersdorp. Our town is on its knees and no one is giving us answers.
‘To make matters worse, some community members say the municipal officials at the Ventersdorp offices cannot assist with any enquiries and always refer them to the Potchefstroom municipal offices. We believe the municipal officials in Ventersdorp should stop receiving their salaries because they do not perform any municipal duties. Instead, the community is told that the municipal vehicles do not have petrol and, therefore, the workers cannot go out to attend to sewage spills or render other services,’ says Khuduga.
He says the community of Ventersdorp feels betrayed. ‘Potchefstroom is the only priority in this merger. There are already developments in Potchefstroom such as the allocation of stands. What about us? This is not the promised land we envisaged.’
Khuduga says the community has met numerous times to discuss their problems and have requested a meeting with the mayor to get clarity. He says, however, that the mayor did not even bother to give them any feedback.
The mayoral spokesperson, Victor Boqo refuted the allegations. He says there is service delivery in Ventersdorp on a daily basis. ‘There is water, refuse removal, infrastructure maintenance and we recently even paid Eskom the outstanding money for the electricity. There are officials on the ground.
‘Presently, as we speak, NW405 is embarking on the IDP process of consulting with all 34 wards and asking the community what they want in terms of service delivery over the next five years.’
Boqo says it is not true that the vehicles do not have petrol.
He says people cannot request to meet with the mayor. They must first speak to their ward councillors and discuss their service delivery issues.
On the issue of the stand allocation, he said the process in Potchefstroom was on the cards before the merger.
‘Ventersdorp is not in a worse situation. We have been holding public meetings in Ventersdorp and no one has complained,’ he concluded.
