Picture: The community members embark on a peaceful march against the ward councillor, Itumeleng Maribe/Supplied
By OBAKENG MAJE
Some community members in Losasaneng village, near Taung said they do not want the sitting ward 20 councillor, Itumeleng Maribe anymore. This comes after they accused him of dishing out Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) jobs to pro-ANC members only.
Last week, the disgruntled community members embarked on a peaceful protest and signed a petition. One of the community leaders, Gift Mokitima alleged that, Maribe is using the EPWP program to buy political favour and those who do not support him were left out.
“There is a high level of unemployment in our area. However, we have an EPWP program of de-bushing trees that is underway. In most cases, job opportunities are reserved for pro-ANC members here.
“As voters, we are all supposed to benefit from that program. This shows that, service delivery is designed for only a few. As community members, we were not aware of this program even on how people were appointed,” Mokitima said.
He further said, they had a consultative engagement with their local tribal authority to seek clarity, but all was in vain. Mokitima added that, one of the representatives from the tribal authority alleged that, he received a list depicting names of those who were supposed to be employed to sign it off.
“So, he also highlighted that, he was threatened. He said he was told that, if he does not sign that list, he will be harshly dealt with and removed as a ward committee member. Unfortunately, he is not the only one who was threatened, but this includes other members as well.
“There is a lot of shenanigans happening in our ward. Unfortunately, this leaves us with no choice, but to call for the removal of the ward councillor through a petition. So, we are still busy circulating that petition and we will submit it to the relevant authorities,” said Mokitima.
He said they embarked on a peaceful march and requested Maribe to declare the appointment of those individuals non and void, but their attempt was futile. Mokitima said they want the appointment process to return to the community and start afresh.
However, Maribe deemed the allegations as absurd and unfounded. He said he was not part of the appointment process as that was done at various local tribal authorities.
“There were some complaints that the is a forest on the road where learners use to reach to various schools. So, we had a meeting with the tribal authority, where we agreed that, the tribal offices will submit the names of those individuals who will be appointed for this program.
“This was done last month in Kameelpuit. The agreement was that, four people will be appointed from Losasaneng, four from Kameelpuit, four from Ikageng, one from Thotayatau, and two from Madithamaga,” he said.
Maribe said they were only focusing on affected areas. He alleged that, there is a smear campaign against him because there are certain individuals who are not happy to see him as a councillor.
“This has happened before and I am unfazed. There is a hidden agenda, where some individuals said they are not happy with the whole process hence the petition. However, these were prompted by internal challenges within the chieftaincy in various areas.
“I can tell you that all those individuals who were appointed are locals. So, this is a smear campaign because this is not the first time I became a ward councillor. Previously, I have awarded a skill development program to over 100 individuals,” said Maribe.
He said those who are complaining are attention seekers who continue to slander his name.
The Guardian 