DA provincial leader Nqaba Bhanga has called for Enoch Mgijima municipality to be dissolved and have its council replaced with “people who want to serve the community”.
Bhanga was campaigning in Enoch Mgijima municipality’s ward 10, which is scheduled to have a by-election on Wednesday.
The DA is represented by Tokkie Deysel, while the ANC is represented by Anele Hala and the EFF by Siyabonga Magibili.
The three parties have been busy since last month doing door-to-door campaigns in a bid to win the ward, but Bhanga is confident that the DA will retain the ward, which it has controlled for more than 10 years.
The by-election came after former DA ward councillor Chris de Wet resigned in May and went overseas.
In a interview with DispatchLIVE on Friday, Bhanga said, “We need a municipality that will care for its people, and we will make sure that we turn the situation of this town around.”
He said Komani businesses and farmers want a commitment from government that it will deal with the service delivery challenges in the town.
“The main complaint of these businesses is problems with water, electricity and bad roads. There is no service delivery in this town,” he said.
He said if the issues were not addressed, the future of Komani was under threat.
“If the provincial government does not make this municipality a conducive environment for business, businesses will leave.
“If the challenges of the town are addressed, future investments are guaranteed, but at the moment there is no hope,” Bhanga said.
He said the DA caucus at the Bhisho legislature will be focusing on Enoch Mgijima municipality and exposing corruption within the municipality.
“Poor governance is the reason for the failure of this municipality. We will campaign to save this municipality, save jobs and get all the thieves arrested.
“If we don’t stand up and address this problem, hundreds of people will lose their jobs.”
He blamed Samwu for creating “havoc and chaos” through their strike action.
“Their aim is to destroy the municipality. We condemn these types of actions as they show that Samwu does not care about the residents of Komani.
“There must be consequences for their actions,” he said.
Samwu regional leaders could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
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