The Ditsobotla local municipality in the North West said rumour mongers were responsible for sparking the rampage yesterday where former contract workers destroyed municipal documents and threw them on the streets of Lichtenburg.
The Ditsobotla’s local municipality spokesperson, Pius Batsile, said the destruction of the municipal documents was sparked by rumours that some of the contractors whose services were terminated in November 2022, received payments, while others didn’t.
“On the 30th of November 2022, the municipality terminated the contracts of all the temporary workers. Now, there are some people that are busy spreading wrong information that there are contractors who were paid salaries for December, after their contracts were terminated.
“That rumour sparked all this rage that caused some workers that were contracted by the municipality to storm into our offices demanding payments.
“As the municipality, we can confirm that there are no contract workers that were paid salaries for December by the municipality. However, we are investigating whether there are some who might have received payments. If so, we will ensure that others are also paid by the municipality,” Batsile said.
The MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the North West, Nono Maloyi condemned the incident.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms, an incident in Ditsobotla where documents that belong to the municipality were destroyed and disposed of on the streets of Lichtenburg yesterday.
“It is unfortunate that the workers have reacted in that manner. We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour, be it from officials, councilors or members of the public. We will bring in law enforcement agencies to enforce law and order in Ditsobotla when it is necessary,” said Maloyi.
In a statement, The EFF in the North West blamed the ANC- led government for collapsing the municipality and for the protests.
“The EFF in the North West reiterates the assertion that all spheres of government led by the ANC are substantially paralyzed.
“A dismal failure by the ANC-led government to manage the affairs of Ditsobotla local municipality in an accountable, transparent, effective manner and to the best interest of the community as required by the Constitution and the applicable legislation has set a precedence that the people have to resort to protests in an effort to highlight their plight.
“The community of Ditsobotla witnessed the official documents belonging to the municipality destroyed and disposed of on the streets of Lichtenburg. In response to the incident in question, the MEC Nono Maloyi, alleges that contract workers are culprits. It should be recalled that the ANC-led council was dissolved on the basis of, among others, the infighting that led to the municipality being held at ransom by thugs with impunity.
“Therefore, it is on this basis that we are persuaded to infer that the disregard of the law and recognisable flops of MEC Maloyi and his illegitimate administrator Radinaledi Mosiane in constituting a council perpetuates the rise of discontent in Ditsobotla”.
While the DA’s Chairperson of the Federal Council, Helen Zille took to twitter to express her views on the rampage.
“Ditsobotla is on its knees. This bankrupt municipality can’t provide basic services. Yet contract workers, whose contracts were not renewed, saw fit to tip piles of ratepayer’s files onto the streets of Lichtenburg, destroying records of this non-digitised municipality,” she said on Twitter.
Following the recent by-elections where the ANC retained power, a council for the troubled municipality that was canceled three times is expected to sit on Monday.
