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By STAFF REPORTER

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the North West came out gun blazing and said it will not involve itself in factional horse-trading in municipal councils affected by the ANC’s Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) decision.

This comes after the IPC’s failed attempt to recall mayors, speakers, and chief whips (Troikas) in five municipalities last week. The affected municipalities were Mahikeng, Ditsobotla, Maquassi Hills, Matlosana Local Municipalities, and the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality.

However, it was reported that only six councillors have rendered their resignation letters thus far.

DA provincial chairperson, Joe McGluwa said they have written to all the DA municipal caucuses not to extend any support to any ANC candidate to replace an ANC office bearer. He said the ‘root of the rot’ in North West is the ANC in its entirety.

“We further call on all opposition political parties in the North West to support our initiative not to give credence to this futile exercise of replacing one ANC cadre with another. The time has come to let the ANC deals with the mess it has created.

“The ANC had 26 years to deliver good governance and quality basic service delivery in the province and it has failed miserably. Instead of improving the lives of people, the ANC in North West has presided over the collapse of governance and the cessation of service delivery while corruption and looting have transformed the province into a wasteland of deprivation, desperation, and despair,” said McGluwa.

He added that when the ANC’s IPC coordinator, Hlomani Chauke announced the decision on the recall, the DA warned that this move is nothing but factional battles playing out at the expense of the people of North West.

“We also warned that the ANC North West IPC’s decision will be rejected by branches and factions and that affected cadres in executive positions will challenge the decision in court.

“The DA is on record stating that the recall will fail because a similar recall just before the 2019 general elections failed miserably, and the battle lines unfolding now were exactly the same as in 2019,” he said.

McGluwa further said the ANC is trying to realign preferred factions to positions of power and access to resources to continue the looting and theft of taxpayers’ money, which is ultimately the goal of this recall. He said all of this is being done under the pretense of restoring good governance and service delivery in North West municipalities.

Meanwhile, the ANC IPC spokesperson, Kenny Morolong said the ANC Interim Provincial Working Committee convened a special meeting on Friday and noted that whilst there are deployees who have tendered their resignations, others are yet to comply with the directive of the organisation to relinquish their various positions of deployment.

“The IPWC further noted that there were some ANC members who have publicly criticised the IPC decision to recall these troikas and that a report to this effect will be compiled and presented to the next IPWC meeting.

“The IPWC is immensely perturbed by the conduct of the deployees who have demonstrated utter disregard for the authority of the organisation by refusing to resign,” he said.

Morolong said the IPWC has resolved to continue to engage the councillors who have yet to resign and urge them to comply with the directives of the organisation. He said the IPWC will meet with the affected councillors and amongst others, remind them of their duties as spelled out in the ANC constitution to observe discipline, behave honestly and carry out loyally the decisions of the majority and decisions of higher bodies.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

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By REGINALD KANYANE

A 82-year-old gogo lives in fear after she was allegedly assaulted by her own children. Bella Mogwase from Setlagole village said she was caught in the middle after she tried to intervene in a fight between her children recently.

Mogwase allegedly went to the police station to seek help, but she was referred to the North West Social Development offices in Setlagole village. However, she found the offices closed and she could not receive any assistance.

“My children were fighting and in the process also assaulted me. I went to the police and they referred me to the department of social development. Unfortunately, I found the offices closed and no one was available to assist me.

“Now, I do not know where I should go to seek help. We cannot live like this because it is clear that the workers at the department prioritise themselves before us. I would like to appeal to the North West MEC for Social Development, Boitumelo Moiloa for assistance,”

 Mogwase said the situation is really bad and she is still terrified.

Meanwhile, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) deputy provincial chairperson, Leonard Chweneemang said they shut down the offices because the service point manager is purging them. He said they could not execute their duties because of favouritism and factionalism at the institution.

“We urged the meeting with the department managers to address our challenges. The reason why we are closed here is that we want a hearing of the social development principals.

“We have made countless complaints regarding what has transpired at the office in Ratlou. She told us that the district director who happens to be her immediate supervisor is her friend, so there is nothing that can be done,” Chweneemang said.  

He further said there was a clip circulating on social media where the service point manager allegedly refused to allocate the departmental vehicles to social workers to perform their official duties.

“Where have you found qualified social workers who happen to be a service point manager refusing to release a car when there was a complaint that an elderly person and a child are being abused? Obviously, those are the most vulnerable groups in our country, and she says she does not care and she will not release a car.

“How do you expect the community to be happy in such a situation? As workers here, we want to perform our duties but unfortunately, we are unable to do so because the manager is working with factions,” said Chweneemang.

 North West Social Development spokesperson, Petrus Siko said: “We will ensure that residents receive services while we resolve issues with our workers. We are doing our best to ensure that problems at Ratlou service point is resolved.

“We would like to ensure to residents that we will do our best to make sure that they receive services while we are still engaging our employees to find a lasting solution for internal problems that are related to labour relations,” Siko said.

The Ratlou service point has been closed for more than seven days.

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