On Wednesday, the Ventersdorp community gave the NW Premier 24 hours to act on his promises or they will take it to the streets again.
According to Khuduga Dibe, a F4SD (Forum 4 Service Delivery) deployee, the community is not happy with the manner in which the ANC provincial task team is treating them.
‘It has proven itself to be leading with lies to gain the support of communities. Nothing they have promised us has ever even started happening. That is what provokes the community members. They have started mobilising themselves to revolt because the government of the day is not taking them seriously,’ he said.
Khuduga says the community has sent a letter to the premier for a response. If he fails to address the issues, they will revolt. ‘We have noted that the J.B. Marks Local Municipality has decided to harden its stance and ignore the implementation of the N14 development. The promises of service delivery are ignored and not delivered as by yourself. That the removal of the Ventersdorp councillors has not been realised as promised. The reversal of the merger issue is being ignored by yourselves as the provincial task team,’ read the demand.
The NW premier, Job Mokgoro interacted with the community on these issues, last Wednesday.
Last week, the premier’s office released a statement that the premier reassures the Ventersdorp community of government’s intent to solve their grievances.
‘The premier urges the Ventersdorp community to focus their energy on identifying factual points on why the amalgamation of the former Tlokwe and Ventersdorp municipalities was not working,’ said Vuyisile Ngesi, the premier’s spokesperson.
‘It is that approach that will assist the government in taking an informed and objective decision about the community’s demand for de-amalgamation of the two municipalities,’ he said.
Ngesi says the premier was accompanied by Dr Mpho Motlhabane, the MEC for community safety and transport management and the acting executive mayor of J.B. Marks, Kelvin Johnson.
‘They have welcomed the community’s complaints as fair. They have promised that the issue of some ward councillors never holding community meetings will be discussed with the relevant provincial political leadership structures and a decision is taken. Equally, that the call for de-amalgamation that has already been raised with the highest national authorities, receives the attention it deserves.’
‘We acknowledged that we have a revenue management system that has worked well for Potchefstroom over the years, but we do not seem to have taken into account the uniqueness of Ventersdorp. There are villages and farms with a low income base that is different from the Potchefstroom area,’ remarked Premier Mokgoro. He added that there is a need to note some of these distinctions when dealing with the community’s concerns.
‘At this stage, we might also need to look at the possibility of decentralisation and make sure we have the necessary capacity in Ventersdorp. That will give these people a sense of ownership,’ said the premier. This was in response to the complaint that all the critical services are rendered from Potchefstroom.
Ngesi says Mokgoro and his task team have reassured the community of his commitment to ensuring that all the service delivery complaints, including the N14 development project, are attended to by the relevant provincial departments. He promised that the consultation between his office and the leaders of the community would continue uninterrupted.
