ActionSA to Contest Ward 33 by-election in Enoch Mgijima Municipality

Amongst other motivations, ActionSA has decided to contest the ward 33 by-election in the Enoch Mgijima Municipality due to its strategic location, as per the national spatial development framework and its geographical and strategic economic importance in the province.

This municipality has achieved notoriety for the dysfunctional manner in which it is managed and for a host of questionable procurement irregularities, such as the:

  • Lesseyton Sports Stadium
  • The abandoned road to Ezibeleni Township via the Komani Industrial Park
  • The flouting of remuneration policies by paying staff double what they are supposed to earn

These examples are not exhaustive, but they are the motivation for this municipality to currently be under the administration of a National Cabinet representative. This administrative intervention is further justified by the recent reappointment of the Municipal Manager by the ANC-dominated Council, in defiance of the appropriate advice from the cabinet-appointed administrator and the relevant legislative prescripts. What further concerns ActionSA is that this municipality bears all the hallmarks of all dysfunctional municipalities characterised by broken infrastructure.

Winning this ward may not immediately change the circumstances of the residents of this ward and municipality, but it will show them and other Eastern Cape residents, living in similar municipalities, that there is an alternative to the current failed political establishment.

The ActionSA candidate for this by-election is Mr. Ntsikelelo Sampempe, a former Mayor of Tarkastad. Ntsikelelo has witnessed the systematic deterioration of his town under the current municipal government and wants to champion its rejuvenation. His joining ActionSA also reinforces the fact that we are seen as a solution to the current woeful political dispensation.

The Provincial ActionSA leadership has committed itself to:

  • Supporting the community of Tarkastad to get their plight prioritised in the Enoch Mgijima municipality; and
  • Holding our candidate accountable through direct oversight of his performance.

As someone who comes the small adjoining farming town of Bedford, I am fully aware of the challenges that the people of Tarkastad are faced with and consequently, pledge my personal attention to the performance of the councillor when elected and this community.

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