Tshwane township residents are up in arms over service delivery, scrapping of “ballooned” service bills, illegal spaza shops and foreign national conducting business in their areas.
Under the banner of the Lotus Gardens, Saulsville and Atteridgeville Civic Association, they marched on Friday to Tshwane House to lay bare that their demands be met by tomorrow, or they will shut down the capital.
The threats come when the Metro is recovering from a more than three-month-old municipal strike that plunged the city into service delivery chaos.
The strike has however halted since Monday and the metro is scrambling to clear up the service delivery backlog.
Handing over the memorandum to the city’s finance MMC Peter Sutton on Friday, the group’s chairperson Tshepo Mahlangu said they expected the city to wipe out their bills in seven days or face a shutdown.
City mayor Cilliers Brink and manager Johan Mettler were not available to receive the memorandum.
Residents believe their service bills have been ballooned to cater for those who don’t pay for services.
“We need to protect our townships. Tshwane is suffering from many issues, primarily the wrong billing and lack of service delivery.
“Atteridgeville used to be one of the cleanest townships. Ever since the DA-led coalition took over, everything has been a mess. There’s service delivery in Centurion, there’s service delivery in Pretoria east but what about the townships?” he said.
Other organisational leaders in solidarity with the association were in full support at the march, having bused people all the way from Soweto who shared the same sentiments.
Intoyethu movement, from Soweto known for its fight against the Joburg municipality and drug addiction, mirrored Mahlangu’s assertions.
Its spokesperson Lungile Msingizane said his organisation shared the organisation’s vision.
He said: “It’s time that communities be ruled by its own people rather than politicians … We are here to send a strong message to the Tshwane government. If that message is not heard, next time we will demonstrate. We are not afraid of the police.”
“The next time we come back and they haven’t heard our message, we will destroy everything in these streets.”
The burning issue of illegal foreigners and illegal spaza shops was also listed in their list of demands.
Speaking to the media at the march Ga-Rankuwa, the group’s spokesperson Nonkululeko Qhotsokoane said the time to address illegal foreigners and illegal spaza owners had come and gone and time for action was now.
She said : “We from Ga-Rankuwa say they (illegal foreigners) must start packing their bags and leave … We don’t want them in our neighbourhoods anymore.”
Receiving the memorandum, Sutton said the municipality would consider the demands with the mayor (Brink).
“I am here to receive the memorandum on behalf of the mayor and we will respond within seven days. They claim I’ve made promises, we’ve communicated in writing and we will respond to the memorandum in writing,” Sutton said.
Pretoria News