Six years down the line, empty ANC election promises are responsible for creating growing service delivery expectations in a Williston informal settlement, which should no longer be ignored.
In March 2016, in the run-up to the Local Government Elections (LGE), residents illegally moved onto a tract of municipal land in Williston. Instead of immediately acting against the land occupation, the ANC-run municipality gave residents temporary addresses, so that they could vote for the ANC.
Then, in the run-up to the 2020 LGE, the ANC-run municipality proceeded to erect three water points and three portable toilets on the land, further creating the impression that the delivery of basic services were in the pipeline.
With the second phase of the upgrading of the water network in Williston, which occurred recently, water meter connections were made to the informal structures, further reinforcing the perception that residents would receive serviced sites.
Following an oversight inspection to the informal settlement, it is clear that residents, who have turned their shelters into homes, some even building brick houses and greening their gardens, have been under the impression that they would be allowed to stay on the land.
The municipality, however, has changed its tune and wants to relocate the approximately 30 households to the 150-housing project from CoGHSTA. Only 50 of the 150 houses will be built in this financial year and it is questionable where, if at all, these residents will be placed on the register.
The residents, including school children and elderly citizens, do not want to be relocated and are willing to pay for basic services.
The municipality, which created this situation through its own inaction and its overriding priority to win votes for the ANC, by any means possible, including making pie-in-the-sky promises that were never planned or budgeted for, should now be held accountable for its past actions.
On the 19th of October, I requested the Speaker to place this matter on the agenda for discussion for the general council meeting that was held on the 31st of October 2022. This did not materialise. I have subsequently reported this to the acting Municipal Manager, Speaker and the Mayor and am currently awaiting their response.
After a half-dozen years of living in an ANC lie, the municipality owes it to the residents of Blikkiesdorp to review the suitability of the occupied municipal land, for the provision of basic services.