ActionSA has noted the residents of Sharpeville chasing away Gauteng Premier David Makhura during his attempt to commemorate Human Rights Day.

This response by the residents of the embattled Emfuleni Municipality is entirely appropriate after their municipality has been under administration since 2018, being dysfunctional for a much longer time.

Makhura’s government has played politics with the lives of the residents of Emfuleni who live without a government in towns that are falling apart, infrastructure that has collapsed and services that do not exist any longer.

Media reports by the Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Lebogang Maile, appointing a new administrator mean one thing – the administrator that was appointed in 2018 failed to stabilise the municipality.

It is shocking that while Maile concerns himself with PR stunts, the residents of that municipality continue to suffer and the Gauteng Provincial Government remains silent on solutions.

The demise of service delivery started with the tenure of Simon Mofokeng who made headlines for spending R1.7 million on fast food and hotels. 

Mofokeng’s successor, Jacob Khawe who went on to occupy the office of the Secretary General of the ANC in Gauteng, did little to change the situation of the municipality. Emfuleni went from bad to worse under his mayoralty. 

It was under Khawe’s mayoralty that the army was deployed to the municipality to assist with the service delivery backlog.

Even the army’ presence in Emfuleni didn’t sort out the sewage mess that is polluting the Vaal River. 

As is expected from the ANC, nobody will be held accountable for the mismanagement of the municipality and rampant misappropriation of funds, leading to the sorrowful state of this embattled municipality.