March against poor service delivery in Tshwane

March against poor service delivery in Tshwane

Residents aggrieved by “poor” services rendered by the City of Tshwane will march tomorrow (Wednesday) to Tshwane House to submit a memorandum of demands.

Inaccurate billing, poor quality of water in Hammanskraal, uncollected rubbish bins, corruption and maladministration are among burning issues raised by marchers.

The march is spearheaded by the Lotus Gardens, Atteridgeville and Saulsville Civic Association, which claims to have a mandate from residents in all the seven regions to represent them.

The association’s chairperson Tshepo Mahlangu said residents from the suburbs, townships and informal settlements will take part in a peaceful march.

“No looting, no vandalism and no assaulting of anyone during our march. We will be marching to Tshwane House building to submit a memorandum of demands. Be part of that solution,” he said.

Mahlangu said that residents were affected by a wide range of service delivery problems.

“You (residents) have been marginalised, undermined and abused by the City of Tshwane. The residents of Tshwane in all the seven regions gave us a clear mandate. The purpose of the march is to submit a memorandum of demands to the executive,” Mahlangu said.

He claimed that there was a mayoral committee report intended to scrap bills in arrears which was yet to see the light of day.

“We want to make sure that during a council meeting (this week) they are going to vote for that item to write off our estimated bills. No one is going to help us except ourselves.”

The meeting point for marchers will be at Marabastad Old Putco depot.

Mahlangu urged residents to keep an eye on the proposals to lease key municipal assets such as Wonderboom Airport, the Tshwane Event Centre and two power stations in Rooiwal and Pretoria West.

“The question is: Who exactly are these people who are intending to lease these assets?” he asked.

Two weeks ago, Mahlangu was chastised by the City for making “reckless and irresponsible utterances” by calling on residents to boycott the payment of municipal services.

“In his spare time, Mahlangu records voice notes which he shares on social media and hops from one radio station to another to spew tirades at the city administration and advocate for lawlessness,” the City said.

The City also accused the organisation of having actively prevented and harassed city officials from reading meters in areas where they purport to be representing residents.

The city said it had enforced credit control measures in a bid to recoup the more than R22 billion it was owed, saying that all residents and customers must pay for the municipal services they consume.

Last year, the organisation marched to Tshwane House to complain about inaccurate billing, fraudulent letters of demands sent to defaulting customers and hiring of consulting firms by the municipality.

Pretoria News

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