The community of Bethal, Milan Park and eMzinoni took to the streets on Monday, July 18 in protested against service delivery and electricity issues in the area.
The protesters marched from Bethal Mall to the Govan Mbeki Municipality and Eskom offices where they handed over memorandums.
The memorandums informed the executive mayor of Govan Mbeki Municipality, Nhlakanipho Zuma, the communities of Bethal, Milan Park and eMzinoni, have, after many community consultation sessions, decided to withhold payment for rates and taxes, water, basic charges, sewage, refuse removal and where possible electricity.
They will withhold payment as from July 18 until their demands are met.
The memorandum further stated that any communication between the municipality, Eskom and the community should be through the newspaper and they will not allow any sessions behind closed doors.
The other demands in the memorandum are:
‘We want it in writing from the council of Govan Mbeki Municipality that Bethal’s NMD (notified maximum demand) will be lifted to 30mw.
‘We demand that the municipality’s rotational load-shedding be suspended with immediate effect.
‘We demand that all of the municipality’s electricians’ qualifications, trade test certificates and operating documentation be e-mailed to us for verification purposes. This should be done within seven days.
‘We demand that all payments made by the community towards water and electricity, be ring-fenced into an account for Rand Water and Eskom. These accounts must be beyond the reach of Govan Mbeki Municipality employees. It must be established within seven days from July 18. The community must be informed of this through the print media and proof of those accounts must be forwarded to us. These two accounts will be for Bethal, Milan Park and eMzinoni, not the whole Govan Mbeki municipal area.
‘We want the Auditor-General’s reports for the financial years of 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018, 2018/2019, 2019/2020, 2020/2021 and 2021/2022. We want these reports to be handed over to a community forum, BBPA, chaired by Mr Dangor from Whitehouse Paints so that they can be verified by a community appointed audit firm. This should be done within seven days from July 18 and is non-negotiable since all our problems began with financial mismanagement and a lack of transparency from the municipality’s side.
‘We demand a full page article in the Ridge Times newspaper, paid for by Govan Mbeki Municipality, about why people within the scope of operations of the municipality implicated in mismanagement and corruption, as mentioned in the Section 106 report, have not been prosecuted or charged.
‘The municipality must give Empower Machete full access to the grid to clean up the mess created by the municipality’s useless electricians.’
The memorandum stated some other service delivery issues as well, including potholes and sewage.
