Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

No place for abuse of power in Ngwathe, mayor must resign

AfriForum calls on the mayor of the Ngwathe Local Municipality, Victoria de Beer-Mthombeni, to submit her resignation rather than obtain an interdict to prevent community members from protesting.

The organisation believes that this step only shows that De Beer-Mthombeni is willing to use the legal system to protect her position, but is not willing to fulfill her duties to the community.

According to Alta Pretorius, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for the Mooi River, AfriForum receives complaints almost daily from residents who have been without basic services such as water delivery for years. “The quality of service delivery in this municipality is unacceptable and it seems there is no political will to do anything about it. Now the mayor wants to prevent the community from exercising their right to peaceful protest.”

It also appears that there is a new trend in this municipality where community leaders are allegedly being intimidated by government officials. According to one community leader, a government official visited his home and insisted that he relays information about protests and his involvement in them. According to Pretorius, it appears that the mayor wants to silence the community rather than solve the crisis surrounding service delivery.

According to Schalk Burger, chairperson of the AfriForum branch in Parys, it is unfortunate that the person in charge does not have any interest in doing her job properly. “The municipal manager and his officials are just her puppets. We as a community are tired of struggling under her poor management. We have tried countless times to engage in dialogue with her and her officials, but the requests fall on deaf ears. It is time for the mayor to put her pride in her pocket and start thinking about the interests of the community.”

The civil rights organisation achieved a victory in the Bloemfontein High Court on 20 June this year. This court found that the Ngwathe Local Municipality is not fulfilling its constitutional, legal and administrative obligations towards the residents of Parys, Heilbron, Koppies and Vredefort, among others. As part of a structured interdict, the court ordered that the municipal council be dissolved and that the Free State provincial government must immediately intervene with the municipality. The Ngwathe Municipality’s application for leave to appeal was dismissed and they are now seeking to have this decision overturned in the Supreme Court of Appeal. AfriForum is currently in the process of consulting with its legal team to bring an application in terms of section 18(3) of the Superior Courts Act 10 of 2023 so that the court order can be implemented in the meantime.