Pretoria - Frustration over poor service delivery in troubled Mafube Local Municipality in the Free State continues to grow.
This time it has emerged that municipal compactor trucks for refuse removal have allegedly been stolen, adding to backlogs of uncollected rubbish.
The Mafube business forum, representing local residents, claimed that the trucks, together with two water tanker trucks, were missing two months after they were purchased by the municipality using its Covid-19 grant.
This comes two weeks after lobby group AfriForum and the business forum approached the Bloemfontein High Court with a view to obtain an order forcing the national government to take control of the municipality.
At the heart of the court case was the ailing service delivery in places such as Frankfort, Tweeling, Villiers and Cornelia, where refuse removal had not taken place for more than two years.
Compounding the problems were that the municipality’s telephones, telefax numbers and websites were not operating, which also created a lack of accountability to residents.
In court papers, parties took issue with President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi and Premier Sisi Ntombela.
Residents wanted the national government to run the municipality because “the province has taken over the administration since 2017, but they are simply not capable”.
Mafube Business Forum’s relations officer Jacques Jansen van Vuuren said one compactor truck was reported stolen last week on Wednesday evening and the other had not been seen for some time.
“Residents were told that it is in for repairs, but bearing in mind that it is only two months old, that is unlikely.
“Now it appears that the two tank trucks also disappeared,” Van Vuuren said.
He claimed the municipality would not share information with the forum. He suspected that “the trucks had been repossessed or hidden away from the sheriff”.
Speaking to the Pretoria News, municipal manager Josie Ralebenya denied that the trucks were untraceable, saying one had been stolen but it had been retrieved.
“We had an incident with one compactor truck and it was retrieved. Nothing happened to all the others. They are in good working condition,” he said.
Should the outstanding court ruling be granted in favour of the residents it would set a precedent whereby the national government would take over the administration at the municipality, instead of the province.
Morné Mostert, AfriForum’s manager of local government affairs, said they believed that the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and eventually the president, must intervene if the state does not comply with constitutional criteria regarding service delivery.
Pretoria News