Sol Plaatje’s Executive Mayor, Martha Bartlett, and Municipal Manager, Thapelo Matlala, of Sol Plaatje turned their backs on residents today by failing to attend an official sanitation engagement with national government to address Kimberley’s ongoing water and sanitation woes.
Their absence speaks of the lack of care and leadership in trying times.
The Executive Mayor, did not attend the programme of the Deputy Minister, with the Department of Water and Sanitation, which preceded the planned oversight inspections to the Homevale Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) and Kamfers Dam.
She was more interested in attending the Ward 1, Sol Plaatje by-election. See pics here and here. Also, only a single Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) showed up at the end of the programme, while the Municipal Manager Matlala didn’t attend the oversight.
Ongoing oversights of the Homevale WWTP by DA councillors have shown that the plant has remained largely dysfunctional since 2019. The municipality is also embroiled in a court case in respect of the prolonged dysfunctionality of the Homevale WWTW and its devastating effect on Kamfers Dam.
The engagement with the Deputy Minister presented an ideal opportunity for the Mayor to seek specialised guidance and support in fixing the city’s longstanding sewerage problems, and even to plead for clemency regarding serious and ongoing non-compliance by the municipality.
Her failure to utilise this opportunity to meet with the political leadership of DWS and garner help to fix the city’s broken water and sewerage system, shows a total lack of accountability, and disrespect for the Deputy Minister and his team, and for Kimberley residents who are tired of water cuts and living in sewage.
The DA encourages the Deputy Minister to take further action against Sol Plaatje municipality, as it fails to adhere to court requirements to rectify Kimberley’s growing water and sanitation crisis.
Given the ANC’s lack of political will to address service delivery challenges, and its blatant prioritization of politics above all the people of Kimberley, we encourage voters to withhold their vote from the ANC in the Ward 1, Sol Plaatje by-election of 23 July, and to rather vote for DA, with our proven track record of delivery.