Molteno residents to make history with combined protest march

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Residents of Molteno in the North Eastern Cape are preparing to make history.

Black and white residents, supported by surrounding farmers, will come together on Thursday for a mass march to highlight the poor state of service delivery to the town.

In a memorandum to both the Provincial and National Departments of Cooperative Governance, the residents of Molteno call for government intervention to restore stability to the town by appointing an administrator to the Inkwanca Municipality.

They also say that municipal employees have not been paid for seven months, the municipal office has come to a complete standstill while residents have to travel to Sterkstroom to buy electricity and pay accounts.

Local farmer Mybergh Erasmus, who's acting on behalf of the residents, says they're blaming the poor service delivery in Molteno on the relocation of the administrative seat of the Municipality to Sterkstroom.

"The reason behind the protest is that our municipal workers have not been paid for seven months, they are suffering. We have got no municipal services in Molteno, the municipal seat has been illegal shifted down to Sterkstroom from Molteno, our offices are closed. We had to restore municipal services and we had to support each other in accomplishing it." says Erasmus.

Meanwhile, the SA Municipal Workers Union says they're taking the issue of the non-payment of municipal workers to court.

SAMWU Provincial Secretary, Sipiwo Ndunyana, says the deterioration of municipalities is a matter of concern.

"We are aware of the workers that have not been paid for some time in Inkwanca Municipality in the unit of Molteno. The matter we are taking to court as a union. There are various challenges in that municipality which included but not limited to service delivery, which I suppose is why the community is getting involved." says Ndunyana.