By Thabang Morutloa
The EFF believes it is the only party that can rescue the troubled Ditsobotla Local Municipality, whose council was disbanded by the North West provincial government in September. The party’s national chairperson, Veronica Mente was leading a campaign to woo voters ahead of the by-elections at the Lichtenburg-based municipality. Mente said the by-elections are an opportunity for the residents to give her party a chance to govern the municipality. “Now this is an opportunity for every citizen to understand that the municipality is not dissolved because councilors died, all of them. It was dissolved because the ANC came to the realization that it was dysfunctional. It is incompetent, therefore now it’s time for the people to give the EFF an opportunity to go and give them the services they deserve,” Mente said. A resident, Kelebogile Molefe, described the appalling living conditions they lived under. “Everything is a mess. We don’t have streets. When it rains we can’t even come out of our shacks. We have no water and there is sewage spillage everywhere. We don’t even have electricity,” said Molefe. The much-anticipated by-elections are expected to be held on the 14th of December at all wards. The North West provincial government dissolved the troubled Ditsobotla local municipality after months of instability in the municipality. While political parties are busy campaigning for the much-anticipated 14 December by-election, the ANC in the North West told residents of the disbanded Ditsobotla Local Municipality that it has learnt from its previous mistakes. ANC’s PEC chairperson, Nono Maloyi said the ANC has set up an operation centre in DItsobotla and that all their members including their PECs, from the entire province are operating from it 24/7 to reactivate their election structures. Maloyi said the communities of Ditsobotla still have hope in the ANC. “The communities in Ditsobotla are quite excited that finally, the ANC has intervened in their municipality. We encourage our people to vote for the right candidates who understand the ANC. the candidates who will also understand what it means to be in government,” he said. The ANC had 21 seats, followed by the EFF and DA both with 6 seats, FSD and VF Plus both with 2 seats, while other parties had 3 seats at the disbanded Ditsobotla local municipality council that consisted of 40 seats.
Residents of the disbanded Ditsobotla Local Municipality in the North West have mixed feelings about the much-anticipated by-elections. The polls are to be held on the 14th of December in all wards of the Lichtenburg-based municipality. This follows the dissolution of the troubled Ditsobotla municipality by the provincial government after months of instability. However, John Mogatlha of extension 3 in Boikhutso, accused the ANC of using them saying the government only remembers them when they want to benefit from their votes. “We don’t have any form of service delivery. We don’t have water, electricity, and roads. So now we don’t know who to trust. Immediately after we vote for them they forget about us and abandon us. “Who knew that at my age after so many years of democracy, I would still be staying in a shack that has no water, electricity, and a toilet? How I’m I supposed to live and continue voting? “I don’t think I’ll ever vote again. We have been voting for them for many years hoping to get service delivery, but nothing ever happens as soon as elections are over they forget about us,” Mogatlha said. But Martins Moeletsa believes the problem is not the ANC but its ill-disciplined members. “I’m still going to vote for the ANC because I believe the ANC is not the problem. But the problem is with the people employed by the ANC, so we cannot blame the party,” said Moeletsa. While Sana Mokgadi was thanking the ANC for dissolving the municipality. “I’m really happy that the municipality is disbanded. I am going to cast my vote because I believe the ANC took the right decision and will improve the situation. It is the ANC that took measures to intervene by disbanding the municipality,” Mokgadi said.
