Despite the AfriForum court case hanging over Ngwathe’s head, chaos still reigns in Parys
The residents of Parys are struggling with poor service delivery that has more recently resulted in them being left without power or water during a heat wave. Today, AfriForum submitted a complaint about this and other gross human rights violations to the Human Rights Commission and last week submitted an urgent application to the Bloemfontein High Court in which intervention was requested in terms of Article 139 of the Constitution. According to this, a provincial executive authority can step in when a Municipality, such as the Ngwathe Local Municipality, does not fulfil its duties and therefore place the Municipality under administration. Judgment in this case is expected in January.
Despite the fact that this sword hangs over the Ngwathe Municipality’s head, things just keep getting worse in Parys. In the midst of a sweltering heat wave, the residents rarely had water and at times when there was water, it was brown and unfit for human consumption. To make the situation worse, there were also major problems with the power supply due to substations that were vandalised.
“The dire state of affairs can be attributed to several factors,” says Alta Pretorius, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for the Mooi River region. “There’s a reluctance on the part of municipal officials to solve the problems properly. To top it all off, any expert is now denied access to the water treatment works. Even council members are not allowed to enter.”
AfriForum signed an agreement earlier this year, which was confirmed by an interdict, that stipulated that the civil rights organisation may gain access to the works at any time. Now the much-needed expertise and skills that AfriForum offer are being kept away. AfriForum also receives no communication about the state of affairs from the municipal manager. It was agreed at one time that the Municipality would hold regular meetings with stakeholders, but this seems to be a thing of the past as well.
“The community of Parys is sick and tired. Water is a basic human right and currently the people of this town are deprived of it. AfriForum regularly offers its help, but its hand is simply slapped away,” says Pretorius.
According to Schalk Burger, Chairman of the AfriForum branch in Parys, the management team has had a good relationship with the Municipality up to this point. “AfriForum’s input is being ignored, despite the fact that the big problem lies with the leaks that are not being fixed because the Municipality is poorly managed. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that officials are moved around, and incompetent appointments are being made.”
In its court application, AfriForum pointed out that, among other things, the Municipality fails to properly structure and manage its administration, budget and planning processes and as a result cannot provide sustainable services to the community. Therefore, the civil rights organisation requested that he be allowed to help, among other things, with the administration of the water and sewage works.
Corne Cronje, AfriForum’s Manager of Community Structures, says now is the time for the fourth sphere of government to kick in and experts in the community to step in to improve service delivery in the Municipality.
In an attempt to put further pressure on the Municipality to provide sustainable service delivery, AfriForum encourages residents to lodge a complaint with the Human Rights Commission about the current situation. Visit www.sahrc.org.za/lodge-complaints to submit a complaint.
