DA federal leader, Mmusi Maimane, has called for a united approach that sees no race in addressing the service delivery challenges and inequalities faced by the people of Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality.
Maimane said this when he conducted his oversight visit to parts of Komani and the surrounding areas on Monday and Tuesday this week.
His first stop was the dilapidated Louis Rex Primary School, which houses more than 1 300 learners before going to the Joe Slovo informal settlements and businesses that were badly affected by the recent water crisis that hit the Chris Hani region.
After his tour, Maimane asked influential people to club together and help improve the conditions at Louis Rex Primary. He described the Enoch Mgijima area as a time bomb that needed urgent attention, not only from the government but from everyone residing in the area.
“Issues of service delivery that have plunged the town into what it is today will definitely form part of my priority list in parliament,” Maimane said.
“But let’s be honest and admit that some of the challenges we are faced with today emanate from our ugly past. Today we have one group living in the suburbs and the other in the townships with the wealth of the town concentrated in one particular group and we need to help each other up.”
Maimane said political and economic reform needed to take place in order to move the country forward.
“The water crisis affects us all and I am impressed with what local businesses have been doing – allowing other residents access to fresh and clean water from their boreholes. This is a societal challenge that needs all of us not a particular race,” he said.
Maimane said poor governance at local government level impacted on businesses and how the spillovers reflected on employment.
“Political heroes can’t be the heroes of this era. Heroes today are those who create jobs, which is why we need to move speedily and sort out service delivery issues in this municipality so businesses can be able to invest more in the town and create employment for locals.
“Municipalities are the ones who are supposed to create a conducive environment for businesses to thrive and expand their operations. And during the expansion it is where jobs are created, but sadly local government is where the rubber doesn’t hit the road,” said Maimane.
Twizza and Crickley Dairy owner, Ken Clark, whose companies employ more than 400 locals, said the service delivery challenges, particularly for water, posed a risk of a loss of 160 jobs as a result of water outages.
“We use about 1,5 million litres of water a day. If we run out, we have to stop operations. This means the company loses money and would have to release workers,” he said.
