Zukile Majova
The ANC in the Alfred Nzo region is in a last minute struggle to convince 14 villages to go to the polls, despite not having clean water, toilets, a usable gravel road or electricity.
As well as failing to provide basic services, the party has also landed itself in hot water with residents who don’t like the councillor the ANC is fielding.
Tensions came to a head on Friday when a dozen angry village women barricaded the entrance to the Alfred Nzo District Municipality, forcing the officials to call the riot police. (The video is on our YouTube channel).
For years now the locals across the villages have been trying to get rid of their ANC councillor, Langa Noqhakala.
The villages include Mpungutyane, Nyosini, Mxhinweni, Mr Horeb, Mhlutha, Nkungwini, Mgodi, Sihlahleni, Ngcozana, Ntlabeni, Gubhuzi, Sinyaqa, Bethany and Nkalatyi.
They were hoping the party would not recall him as a candidate for Ward 13 ahead of the 1 November elections.
So they elected a potential candidate from among themselves.
To their dismay, they were told that other villages which form part of their ward had voted for the unwanted councillor Noqhakala. They were told he’d beaten their new candidate by a mere two votes.
At this point the residents lost it.
They walked for over two hours at dawn to the nearest tarred road to hitch hike to Mount Ayliff, the official seat of their district municipality, to give acting district mayor Polelo Mohale a mouthful.
To give an example of local discontent, Mamtolo Masangwana said in 2014 a contractor was awarded a tender to bring water to the area but that project was abandoned.
“For weeks now the mayor promised to visit the area but failed to show up after three appointments,” said Masangwana.
“We in our foolishness are stuck with our loyalty to the ANC.”
Lixolile Petela, the spokesperson for the Alfred Nzo District Municipality, said the water project to the area was complete.
Petela said all that was left was for Eskom to run a water reticulation generator to pump the water to communal taps.
