Pretoria – Tshwane Mayor Solly Msimanga on Monday, appealed to residents of Ga-Rankuwa, north of Pretoria, to shun violence and destruction of property after a service delivery protest rocked the area.
"The executive mayor [Msimanga] is seized with this matter. It is unfortunate and deeply regrettable that the decaying infrastructure has led to a protracted shortage of water in the industrial area in Ga-Rankuwa," said Samkelo Mgobozi, Msimanga's spokesperson.
"We urge residents to not undermine their plight with unlawful and violent protest and to appreciate that this dilapidated infrastructure is a legacy of the previous administration. We will do our level best to deal with the situation and communicate to our residents."
Mgobozi said Tshwane MMC for human settlements Mandla Nkomo, the city's strategic executive director for water and sanitation and the regional executive director of the area will convene a meeting on Tuesday morning, to address the Ga-Rankuwa situation, in an effort to avoid a recurrence.
"We furthermore apologise and plead with the residents to bear with us while we institute interim measures," said Mgobozi.
The infuriated residents of a section of took to the streets on Monday morning and said that they were tired of "empty promises" from their ward councillor and the municipality.
Residents took matters into their own hands, disrupting all movements into and out of their area. Several roads were barricaded with burning tyres and large boulders. School children in the area could not attend classes.
Jabu Rammushi, a ward councillor in the area told reporters that he was doing all he can to convey the residents' grievances. Ga-Rankuwa resident Steve Leballo, 48, said he feels that the community is stuck in a political war between the African National Congress councillors and the Democratic Alliance officials who are now running the capital city after the August 3, elections.
“We had enough of this feud between the ANC and the DA now we are suffering because of them. The ANC councillors don’t want to attend to us. They do this so that the DA administration can look bad,” he said.