The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mpumalanga has called on the Executive Mayor of Lekwa, Delani Thabethe, to vacate his seat after he has failed to turn around the dire state of the local municipality. The DA has submitted a Motion of No Confidence against Thabethe to be tabled at the next council sitting which will be on the 31st of October 2023.
Under Thabethe, who represents the Lekwa Community Forum (LCF), the municipality has regressed and is failing to provide basic services such as constant water supply, refuse removal, pothole and streetlight repairs.
The mayor has also dismally failed to address the following burning issues in the municipality:
- Challenges of billing system which impacts on revenue enhancement;
- Failure to manage and adhere to the existing Financial Recovery Plan;
- Wasting ratepayers’ money on outsourcing municipal services;
- Lack of good governance and;
- The filling of critical positions within the institution.
The mayor’s failure to prioritise the fixing of streetlights has also resulted in a rise in house robberies and dog poisoning in Standerton, Sakhile and Morgenzon. These areas have also seen a mushrooming of illegal dumping sites because of lack of refuse removal.
Under this mayor’s mismanagement of Lekwa local municipality, many businesses are closing in Standerton, the economic hub of Lekwa, because lack of service delivery has rendered the town not to be conducive for business development, and it is not investor friendly.
On Friday (20 October), the DA led by its Provincial leaders and members of parliament, business and residents went as far as marching to the Lekwa municipal building where we submitted a Memorandum to the mayor demanding that he urgently address these issues of service delivery, especially the lack of constant water supply.
Over the past few years, lack of access to water in Lekwa has been persistently affecting both residents and businesses. They would often go from four to five days without water. In 2021, Astral Foods, which is one of the biggest employers in Lekwa, had to take the municipality to court because of the inconsistent water supply which threatened their operations and jobs.