The DA in the Lekwa Municipality came out guns blazing about the current state of the fire department.
The party issued a statement the past week, saying they are appalled and will submit a motion in council, urging for immediate intervention.
They conducted an oversight inspection on March 9, that drew a clear picture of neglect and the need for urgent intervention for one of Lekwa’s essential services.
According to the DA, one very common, consistent and identified shortfall is the fire truck, that as of March 9, had been grounded for the fourth month in a row due to a mechanical fault and an overdue service.
“This is especially concerning because the service was due in October last year and to date, the truck still has not been serviced, which exposes it to further mechanical damage,” the statement read.
“Moreover, this has contributed to the increasing number of fatalities caused by a slow response by the fire department.”
The Standerton Advertiser published a front page article on a collision on the Secunda Road on March 7, in which two people lost their lives.
In the statement, the DA refers to the article, saying Morgenzon Fire Brigade, who extinguished the fire, is located 50,3 km away from Standerton.
“There is no way they can speedily react to an emergency and this situation is completely unacceptable,” the statement also read.
“In addition, we discovered that the facility is entirely unkept, grave numbers used on unmarked graves are left to rust and we could not identify whether some equipment was new or old because of the unorderly state it is kept in.”
The DA concluded by saying that for a municipality that is only operating with one vehicle for all emergency needs in Standerton, basic maintenance and upkeep must be a priority to ensure more lives are not lost.
They also mentioned prevalence of household fire emergencies during the winter.
