Johannesburg -The municipal offices in Sannieshof in the Tswaing local municipality in the North West have been closed for the past three months, the local DA said on Thursday.
“Residents cannot obtain any service a municipality is functionally obliged to render,” DA caucus leader in the area Carin Visser said in a statement.

Several problems had been experienced in all departments, including bulk water shortages since 2003.

Bulk water supply projects were cancelled by the Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality and the money spent on a municipal building in Mahikeng.

There was also no disaster relief emergency water supply operational plan when needed.

“The rapid response unit of the premier could not resolve the problem…” said Visser.

The four emergency boreholes drilled in 2013 were still not connected to the network to relieve the bulk water supply problems and sewage reservoirs on residential and business properties were constantly overflowing.

“Equipment [was] not available to service the sites,” she said.

The waste water treatment works were neglected and dysfunctional and there was no control over dumping of raw sewage.

“The municipal tractors had also broken down causing no services in refuse removal,” said Visser.

Pending investigation

The licensing department in the area was closed down due to irregularities and a pending investigation, and there were no municipal burial services in the area.

Consumer accounts were not being sent out, and when they were sent out, the information and readings were inaccurate.

There was no consumer desk to report problems to. Roads were not maintained and had potholes and water damage.

Visser said the electrical supply in the area could not meet the demand of new developments and there was no public participation in the legal processes of council.

“The ANC-governed Tswaing does not comply with their constitutional or statutory obligations as a local municipality.”

She said provincial intervention was “the inevitable alternative as ANC governance continues to fail the people of Tswaing”.

The municipal manager could not be reached for comment.

SAPA

North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo has condemned the slaying of a mineworker who was allegedly stabbed to death while on his way to work at the Anglo American Platinum Mine on Thursday.

“Despicable acts of violence and intimidation of non-striking workers call for parties involved in the wage dispute to find each other to bring the strike to an end. One death of a miner due to violence associated with the protracted strike is a death too many,” Premier Mahumapelo said.

In appealing to communities to assist police in their investigations to ensure that those behind the senseless violence unleashed on non-striking miners are behind bars, Mahumapelo also called to employers to tighten the security of non-striking workers who are reporting for duty.The National Union of Mineworkers had reportedly claimed that the death of the slain mineworkers whom they declared was their member brings to five such brutal killings experienced in the platinum belt in the past two weeks.
-TDN
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Johannesburg – South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers said on Thursday one of its members was stabbed to death on his way to work at an Anglo American Platinum mine, the fifth such killing in the past two weeks.

NUM’s rival, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), is leading a 17-week strike against Amplats, Impala Platinum and Lonmin.
Reuters

Non-striking workers in Rustenburg in the North West are suffering, trade union Solidarity said on Wednesday.

The trade union’s Helping Hands project handed out baby formula and other supplies to mothers affected by the platinum mining sector strike.

“We help non-striking workers; it is not their decision to be on strike,” Helping Hands deputy director Christine Breet said.

“You can cut on other things, but, unfortunately, you cannot cut back on babies’ needs.”

Sixty mothers in Rustenburg and Mooinooi were each give a box of nappies and baby milk that could last for a month. The hamper also contained energy bars, skin cream, and magazines.

“For a month the mothers will have their children’s needs covered. They can now focus on other household needs.”

She said between April 22 and May 21 the organisation had spent over R7000 helping mothers affected by the strike.

“We give people dried food which is rich in protein and does not need to be refrigerated,” Breet said.

Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) downed tools at Impala Platinum, Lonmin, and Anglo American Platinum on January 23 demanding a basic monthly salary of R12,500.

They rejected the companies’ wage offer which would bring their cash remuneration to R12,500 by July 2017.

The remuneration includes a living out and holiday leave allowances, but excludes medical and retirement benefits, and any bonuses.

Mediation talks to end the strike are underway at the labour court.

Cecelia du Plessis, who runs a feeding scheme at an NG Church in Rustenburg, said she had helped about 750 households since the beginning of the strike.

“People have lost cars and houses.”

Some were forced to move in with children or parents.

“They do not have benches, fridges, or cellphones any more because they have had to pawn them,” she said.

-Sapa

Pietermaritzburg – The KwaZulu-Natal Speaker’s office is increasingly becoming a dumping site for failed MECs and other discredited officials, opposition parties said on Wednesday.
They were reacting to the election of Dr Meshack Radebe as the new deputy speaker of the KZN Legislature during the first sitting of the house in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday.

Official leader of the opposition Sizwe Mchunu (DA) said they were concerned about Radebe’s appointment.

Radebe was agriculture and environmental affairs MEC in the previous term, and had also held the position of social development MEC.

“What we are witnessing here, is a trend whereby failed MECs from the ruling party come to the legislature to take up positions at the speaker’s office, it cannot be good for this house,” said Mchunu.
In the previous term the DA was one of the staunchest critics of Radebe, often questioning the rolling out of projects in his department.

IFP leader Blessed Gwala said Radebe’s new appointment illustrated the extent of the rot within the ruling party.

“When current speaker Lydia Johnson failed she was sent here, Mtholephi Mthimkhulu also from the same department came to the speaker’s office. This is clearly a dumping site for the ruling party’s failed individuals,” said Gwala.

Professor Gabriel Ndabandaba was the first MEC to be demoted to the speaker’s office under Sbu Ndebele’s administration, Peggy Nkonyeni was also deployed to the office after problems as health MEC and was followed by Mthimkhulu and Johnson.

Reacting to his new position Radebe said he was not bitter.

“The ANC is always right,” insisted Radebe who vowed to work hard in his new position.

– SAPA