EXECUTIVE Mayor Stevens Mokgalapa yesterday had to cut short his visit to Zithobeni in Region 7 after a group of people greeted him with hostility.
He was there to galvanise City workers into delivering basic services to communities with a sense of urgency.
The trip started peacefully in the morning at Bronkhorstspruit, where he witnessed municipal workers replacing old electricity meters.
Mokgalapa then proceeded to Zithobeni Stadium, which has been a white elephant since its completion in 2017. The multimillion rand facility was vandalised and some of the equipment stolen. It was estimated that it would require R10million to revamp.
Dirty water flowed in the corridors leading to the change rooms. The soccer field is unkempt and the long grass has not been cut.
Mokgalapa was cornered there by some hostile people, who pressed him for answers about the long-standing grievances of the community regarding poor service delivery. A few of his detractors wore ANC T-shirts.
They complained about the neglect of services in shack-populated settlements, saying many old people living there had been waiting for RDP houses for far too long.
Electrification of households and allocation of empty stands to people were among their complaints.
Mokgalapa, who listened attentively to them, promised to visit the place in April to engage with the community on service delivery issues.
“Mayor, what must we do if you can’t come back?” one asked.
Mokgalapa was then escorted to the next stop - Zithobeni Clinic - where he embarked on a walkabout.
The hostile group followed him to the clinic demanding to talk to him. They were kept at bay by the mayor’s VIP security, but one of them exclaimed: “We don’t want to do anything to him. We just want to welcome him.”
The mayor told the Pretoria News that some issues raised by the group required long-term solutions.
“They were talking about cemeteries, grass that has not been cut, fixing of the palisade fence, parks that were in poor condition, etc,” he said.
Mokgalapa said that water and electrification were not issues that could be fixed in a single day.
“From the government's point of view I take it as if it were people raising community issues, but there were others who were just politicking. There were people wearing ANC T-shirts.”
Mokgalapa said he had a cordial relationship with the ANC councillors.
“I work very well with the ANC councillors.
"We travel together to different sites that we are observing, but you can’t really control people on the ground,” he said.
He expressed disappointment about the number of vandalised
municipal properties, saying it impacted negatively on service delivery.
“While the City is prioritising infrastructure-led developments and the regular maintenance of municipal assets, none of these commitments mean anything if the very communities meant to benefit from these projects and programmes have facilities vandalised by a few lawless residents,” Mokgalapa said.