DA vows to fight for Tshwane residents’ rights

Residents of Pretoria east together with ward councillor Siobhan Muller and former mayor Cilliers Brink have called on the new metro administration to continue the high standard of service delivery and administration.

The call by DA members took place on November 20 during a Pretoria east ward meeting.

Brink told residents: “We will fight for what is right and will never stop working for a better future for the city”.

In this fight, he said they would be standing up for service delivery and ensure it does not slide into chaotic conditions.

“You have the DA’s commitment that we will stick with residents on standards of excellence for service delivery,” said Brink.

He referred to real risks with service delivery deterioration that lie ahead for citizens of the metro, one of these being the intensification of the “urban crunch”.

“With migration from provinces that are the hinterland of the city, as well as countries beyond our borders, our physical spaces in the metro are changing. Just look at the number of informal settlements, backyard dwellers, as well as the hijacked buildings. In a place that used to be a granny flat 20 years ago, there are now 15 people living there.

“This crunch has an effect on the infrastructure, which deteriorates accordingly. Look at the number of substations that blew up because the electricity infrastructure can’t deal with the load anymore,” explained Brink.

He pointed out that the real risk for the metro going forward lies in the fact that the “urban crunch” also affects the city’s finances.

“Because there’s more demand, service delivery can deteriorate at a fast pace,” emphasised Brink.

He pointed out that more and more complaints about service delivery by the metro have been received in the past two months since the previous coalition government was handed over to the current administration.

He believes this can also be attributed to the culture of a dysfunctional workplace.

“At present, incorrect credit control and billings, as well as lots of delays in maintenance are creating frustration among residents with power and water outages not being timeously solved. It is as if in the absence of strong political leadership, a vacuum has been created in service delivery,” said Brink.

He warned against “bigger risks like future financial ruinous decisions”.

“Metro finances are better than 17 months ago when we took over the management of the metro but are still fragile. We cannot afford salary increases. The risk is that the metro might make an agreement with trade unions, which the city cannot afford.

“As the opposition, we will hold the city manager to account that a credible cash flow prediction is done. If we now splurge on salaries, it will bring all the previous good financial decisions to a halt,” said Brink.

Residents will have an opportunity to express their views at the next local government elections.

Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, announced on November 14 that South Africa’s next local government elections are scheduled to be held between November 2, 2026, and February 1, 2027.

“That might feel like a long time in the future for you and certainly a lot of damage can be done, but it will be an opportunity to create some order out of the chaos of present coalition politics,” emphasised Brink.

He also referred to the new valuation roll being set up in 2025 and warned residents that they need to approach their new property evaluations with great caution.

“We will be looking very carefully that the residents aren’t abused by a too high increase in property tax when the property rights of the city will be reviewed next year. We know that tax revolts by consumers being pushed too far are a real risk. The real temptation with new political leadership is that they might go for the option of a big increase in property rates. But we will fight that and we will also keep residents informed.”

He concluded by saying he has not given up hope for Tshwane.

“We are still going to turn the city around. We are coming back in the next election in a big way because we genuinely love this city and we are committed to fixing it for all,” he said.

Muller said she was disturbed at the rate of deterioration in service delivery to the ratepayers of Tshwane, including the incorrect cutting of water and electricity to complexes.

“A complex in Menlo Park was incorrectly cut last week for both water and power. The complex is home to South Africans and foreign diplomats, and Tshwane incorrectly cut the complex, despite a large credit on their account,” Muller pointed out.

She said numerous attempts to reconnect fell on deaf ears in the first four days, until it was escalated to top management.

“The subsequent musical chairs of teams going to reconnect the complex was an embarrassment to the metro, with each team saying they couldn’t reconnect the complex for a new reason. Water was restored but power stayed off for quite a while leaving both tenants and owners furious at the incompetent response to the problem. Claims against the complex have been threatened by the people affected by the outage, which could land the metro in litigation.”

She called on all in the new administration to treat rate-paying residents fairly no matter the political situation the metro faces.

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