“Yes it is a victory for the residents of Bethal and eMzinoni.
“ Yet, it is ironic that the residents had to use their own hard-earned money to fight a municipality that is in place to provide services for which residents pay monthly,” said Ziyaad Dangor, media spokesperson for Becs.
Dangor thanked the residents and businesses of Bethal and eMzinoni for their contribution of money in the fight for their constitutional rights.
He also thanked the committee of Becs who endured hard times and gave up their time to get to this victory of holding the municipality accountable and in hopes of forcing the municipality to provide the towns with paid-for services.
He went on praising the residents, businesses and AfriFourm for assisting in things such as maintaining the town, repairing potholes, and cutting the grass to make the town “livable”.
“And so the show goes on. GMM had stated that they requested Eskom to lift the NMD previously and yet through Eskom’s senior legal advisor, Bongani Maqungo, Eskom denies receiving any application for the increase of NMD. And the lies continue,” said Dangor.
He said that GSDM stated that they are satisfied with the work carried out by Enpower Machite and the progress made, however, Enpower Machite has been “AWOL” for the past few months.
“Bethal continues receiving load-shedding and the decay of all other services continue.
“Where is the progress report? What happened to ringfencing Bethal’s finances? And the lies continue.
“Our plea is for our municipality to please stop the lies and false promises,” said Dangor.
The community are pleading with the municipality to heed the court’s ruling and to begin providing services required and services for which residents and businesses pay.
“We need to remind the municipal officials that while they have their monthly income secured, we as rate-paying residents are bearing the brunt of poor or no service delivery.
“Businesses are directly impacted and the residential market is weakening by the day. Infrastructure is decaying at a rapid rate and needs urgent attention,” said Dangor.
He urged fellow towns serviced by GMM to follow suit and take action to force the municipality to provide services.
“Do not wait until it’s too late. The decay in Secunda, Trichardt, Evander and Kinross is there for all residents to see.
“Do not sit back and wait for the bomb to explode. Take action now!
“To our municipal officials, please give us our basic constitutional rights and do what is right. Stop “passing the buck”, take responsibility and do what you are mandated and paid to do,” concluded Dangor.
The Ridge Times is yet to receive a response regarding the judgement from GMM.
In a previous response to an email sent to GMM’s acting manager of communications, Donald Green said the municipality is studying the judgment and a decision on the steps to be taken will be communicated.
At the time of going to print, Green said: “Please note that the High Court Judgment: Bethal and eMzinoni Community for Services Association, was supposed to be tabled for discussion at the ordinary council meeting on Thursday, January 27, but the meeting was adjourned.
“A new date will be communicated,” said Green.
