Residents lambaste Sanco’s plans to march over water crisis
The ANC Limpopo Tripartite Alliance and Sanco plan to march to Lepelle Northern Water and the Polokwane Municipality on Friday to demand proper water services for the municipal area.
POLOKWANE – “How can the ANC organise a protest to the party’s led municipality when it can just fix the issue?”
Residents in Seshego and Polokwane are up in arms over the ANC Limpopo Tripartite Alliance’s planned march to Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) and the Polokwane Municipality on Friday (November 4).
The march is set to be led by the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) to demand proper water services for the municipal area.
“These people are using us, the residents, to fix their own mistakes. The ANC branches in Seshego and Polokwane are embarrassed that our water protest happened without their support and got out of control on their watch. Our clusters are not a part of the march,” community leader Vincent Kunutu told the Polokwane Observer.
Last week, the city centre came to a standstill as residents from Seshego marched over the ongoing water crisis.
Read more: Rubber bullets fired as Seshego residents protest over water
Kunutu also questioned why grievances should be taken to Lepelle Northern Water when it is a mere supplier to the municipality.
“We pay the municipality for our services, not LNW,” he said.
Sanco provincial leader and spokesperson for the march Masalo Phasha denied that the march was a scam and insists that it will go ahead as planned.
Potential stakeholders met on Tuesday (November 1) where an agreement was reached that new posters that do not specify organisations would be distributed so that the march is more inclusive.
“We realised the error and decided that because this is a community outcry, we had to remove the previous posters,” he said.
He also clarified why the provincial tripartite alliance would be marching to the local municipality while the ANC leads it.
“Our branch members are also residents and they need water. As we go, we see that the bulk water supplier also has to account because what do we say when the municipality shows us statements of payment to the supplier, but we still do not have water? That is why we want them both to speak to us,” he said.
