The gloves are off between ActionSA and the DA in Tshwane following this week’s social media crusade by the former to expose the appalling state of service delivery experienced by residents in townships.
ActionSA national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, said his party was on a mission to investigate issues of service delivery under the DA-led multiparty coalition.
This was despite the fact that his party was part of the coalition government led by Mayor Cilliers Brink of the DA.
Beaumont said his party’s structures expressed concerns about the regression of service delivery in townships in Gauteng.
His utterances were captured in one of the social media video clips showing a manhole overflowing with sewage in Soshanguve Block H.
He said the community in the area had been experiencing sewage problems to no end.
“The blockages in the sewer network around this area is causing this manhole to overflow inside a resident’s property and it has been continuing for two weeks,” he said.
Beaumont apportioned blame on the municipality, saying it came to look at the manhole, but didn’t solve the problem, leaving residents without answers.
“These are exactly the kind of concerns that the ActionSA structures are raising with us and why ActionSA is having to take drastic steps of reviewing our involvement in this coalition,” he said.
Reacting to the criticism against the DA-led coalition, Utility Service MMC Themba Fosi said: “While you’re there, log a call and send me the reference number.”
Beaumont also visited Atteridgeville, where he slated the current administration at the municipality for failure to collect waste littered in open spaces.
He also conducted an oversight visit at the Chantelle social housing project in Pretoria North, saying the development remained incomplete and abandoned despite the City having invested millions in it.
“The City is clearly not interested in prioritising the completion of this project to deliver on its promise of providing safe and affordable housing to the residents of Tshwane. This is why we are conducting a review of our working relationship within the governing coalition in Tshwane,” he said.
But, Human Settlements MMC, Ofentse Madzebatela, said he was willing to share why that project was in that state.
He said a contractor was terminated in June this year due to non-performance and that the City was currently busy with the appointment of engineers to assess work done so far.
In Soshanguve, where Beaumont was joined by Tshwane deputy mayor Nasiphi Moya, he said: “While South Africa has enjoyed over five months without load shedding, the community of Soshanguve continues to face persistent power outages due to failing electricity infrastructure.”
He blamed Fosi for constant power outages, saying he failed to address this issue as a priority for the past three years.
“However, through the exceptional work of ActionSA’s Tshwane deputy mayor, significant progress has been made at several substations in Soshanguve, and with continued progress, residents can expect the power outages to be resolved within the next 18 months,” he said.
Hitting back at Beaumont, Brink said on X: “MMC Themba Fosi is not focused on political grandstanding and claiming Temu social media victories. In our 18 months in office, MMC Fosi has been at the forefront of driving upgrades of electricity networks in Soshanguve JJ 132KV power line, Ga-Rankuwa Zone 14, and regularly engages with communities. This may be confusing to people who came into the picture later on, but the work has been ongoing.”
In a media statement DA caucus spokesperson in Tshwane, Kwena Moloto, said: “ActionSA’s recent social media attack campaign on the multi-party government in Tshwane is a clear indication that their internal review process is nothing more than a smokescreen to buy time while they finalise a deal to bring the EFF into government in the capital city.”
FF Plus caucus leader, Grandi Theunissen, called on coalition partners to band together in creating the necessary stability in government.
“ActionSA has every right to be honest about the challenges experienced by the Metro, but should also acknowledge the progress made by the current coalition government and the potential damage that a change of government could cause,” he said.
Pretoria News