Community March for Service Delivery
Kgang Moloko
Rustenburg Local Municipality consists of 45 wards, communities are experiencing dire and poor service delivery and unfairly high rates with no resolve. This led to communities from different wards joining together and sharing their frustration via a WhatsApp group and a decision was taken to march to the Missionary Mpheni House.
Communities from different wards of our local municipality held a march against poor service delivery and high municipal rates that are getting worse, a collective group of the community agreed to stage a march on the 30th of April 2024. The communication was and is still through the WhatsApp group. There were challenges before the march, as authorities refused to grant permission to legalize the march. The other challenge was that the influential leader was a woman surrounded mostly by men. Patriarchy showed its colour when some of the men wanted to be the top leaders and split the group into two. The group of males was invited to the municipal offices, and they signed for a different date.
One of the leaders of the march said, “We were not going to be deterred by the weakening and division tactics applied by municipal into the group.”
The leadership approached the provincial leadership to intervene but was referred back to the local municipality for assistance. The local government never assisted, and the march continued without a permit. The media was invited and presented on the 30th of April 2024. Police were deployed.
The number of participants was around 60, a lower number than what was expected from different wards. The march started at the taxi rank and marched with high police visibility through Oliver Tambo Street, then turned to Thabo Mbeki Street. This is the street that houses Missionary Mpheni house, which is the Municipal building. The march moved to the front gate of the offices. A representative of the municipality was sent to receive the memorandum with some of the demands as follows:
- Scraping of high rates calculated by estimates
- Shortage and lack of water supply
- Leaking sewage
- Dilapidated roads
- Dysfunctional streetlights
The representative informed the marchers that a respond would be given within 14 working days which will be on 24 May 2024.
“The community group will continue to fight for better service delivery and keep holding the municipality accountable, it is not a once-off thing, we will continue whether we get a response or not”. said one of the leaders in conclusion.
