OPINION: “Rustervaal deserves an accountable government”

Voters of Ward 16 of the Emfuleni Local Municipality will be heading to the polls on Wednesday the 13th of March to vote in a by-election in the ward.

 It is against this backdrop, Kingsol Chabalala, the DA’s Constituency Head in Emfuleni North writes: 

 “It is common knowledge that service delivery has collapsed in the Emfuleni Local Municipality.

Emfuleni is now characterised by roads littered potholes, water running everywhere and dirty streets as residents experience a lack of regular refuse collection, sewer challenges, unpredictable electricity supply and constant water shortages and when available, low water pressure.

Furthermore, the municipality has simply regressed in the provision of adequate services to the residents in these wards while there have been officials who have benefitted illegally from funds that are meant to better the lives of residents.

In 2018, community members of Rustervaal took to the streets to protest as a result of the non-delivery of a new school in the area, which was promised by thenGauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi.

Unfortunately, the construction of Rustervaal Secondary School has been a troubled project facing many delays and complications.

While construction on the project commenced in 2018 in an attempt to replace the school buildings containing asbestos, the initial contractor, Condocor Pty Ltd which was awarded the project, abandoned construction in 2020 without completing it.

As of March 2024, the project remains incomplete and abandoned.
The school project leaves more than a thousand school children in despair as the existing asbestos school buildings continue to deteriorate further while exposing learners and teachers alike to health risks associated with asbestos infrastructure.

Furthermore, learners and teachers are forced to endure overcrowded classrooms that are not conducive to learning and teaching. The number of abandoned schools, some of which like Rustervaal Secondary School have been abandoned for more than five years, create a huge burden on the placement of learners.

The abandonment of projects in Rustervaal unfortunately does not end here. In 2017, construction on the Rustervaal Community Library commenced.

To date, more than R10 million has been spent yet the library remains incomplete while the community of Rustervaal can greatly benefit from such a resource.

Similarly, the Rustervaal Staudium is another prime example of how this community is not taken seriously at all.

Stage 1 of this project started in 2013. More than 10 years later and after almost R50 million has been spent on this project, Rustervaal Stadium is incomplete, has been vandalised and does not benefit the community of Rustervaal in any way.

Last year in May, residents of Roshnee and Rustervaaltook to the streets in frustration over the lack of service delivery.

Residents demanded to know what happened to the budget set for services in Roshnee and Rustervaal. Water was disrupted for a week, electricity was disrupted for three consecutive weeks, and there were power outages for 20 to 36 hours at a time besides the load-shedding they were experiencing.

This protest eventually resulted in the frustrated residents handing over a memorandum to the mayor and ward councillor.

Later in the year, during August 2023, residents once again held protests due to concerns about a lack of service delivery in their communities. Issues mentioned included lack of sanitation, poor infrastructure, and limited access to basic services like electricity andrefuse removal.

Protests from frustrated residents and the lack of in action by those voted into these municipalities have mirrored ANC’s government.

The time to prioritise needs of the residents of Rustervaal is now! People are tired of empty promises while they live in sub-par conditions. It is unfair that the residents of Rus-Ter-Vaal are expected to not only exist but flourish where the delivery of services is almost nonexistent.

The current government has neglected the people of Rustervaal for far too long. Now this community has a chance to ensure that abandoned and neglected projects that stand to benefit them are completed.

It is time for the community of Rustervaal to rescue itself with the shackles of an uncaring government. Voting for the Democratic Alliance (DA) will ensure that your needs as community are prioritised.

The DA will fight for the completion of these projects. The Rustervaal Secondary School, the Community Library and the Stadium will be completed and handed over to this community.

Residents have suffered enough under this current government.

Rustervaal deserves an accountable government that concerns itself with the needs of the people it governs.

Under the DA, we will ensure that the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs does what it is meant to do and plays an integral role in providing support to our municipalities.

They should also be the first to step in when wards in ailing municipalities like Emfuleni struggle to deliver basic services.

Voting DA will ensure that that there is improvement in the quality of service delivery and the quality of life because voting DA means rescuing Ward 16!”

*The views and opinions expressed in this piece are those of Kingsol Chabalala and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Vaalweekblad.

Kingsol Chabalala. Foto: Archive