The executive mayor of the troubled Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality says service delivery has improved since he took office. The African National Congress (ANC) in the Eastern Cape deployed Madoda Papiyana in November last year to turn around the local authority’s fortunes.
There have been calls for it to be dissolved due to a general lack of basic services. Currently, its debt to Eskom amounts to a billion Rand.
Calls for dissolution of troubled Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality questioned:
Services delivery woes continue to frustrate residents of the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality. This has led to mass demonstrations by residents, who demand the dissolution of its council.
Despite these problems, the municipality believes it’s on the right path to financial recovery and the improvement of services.
Mayor Madoda Papiyana explains, “As things stand now if you’re looking at the municipality you’ll remember this town was like a ghost town. You will remember but when you are coming to Queenstown at least the lights are on, and the municipality is functioning very well you will remember before l became a mayor the position of the Municipal Manager was not filled and all other directors as we speak now we filled those vacancies it simply says the machine is now ready to deliver services to our people.”
However, some community members disagree with this view. Solomzi Nkwentsha from the Komani Protest Action says the dissolution is the only solution.
“We don’t need anything but the dissolution of the municipality. We are aware that on the 15th of February, there was a Cabinet meeting they took a decision that this municipality must be dissolved.”
Another resident, Yolanda Gcanga, says they will be forced to protest again.
“It’s not nice, they are playing tricks inviting Treasury, playing us, they think we are stupid and it’s not nice to see how the government can play with the minds of the people and make people suffer in things that they need on a daily basis.”
A decision on the future of the municipality will be taken at the Cabinet level. The Cabinet has indicated that it is still collecting information in order to make an informed decision.
