HAVING made significant strides within the Gamagara municipality in the space of just four months, the DA vows it is ready and capable of rescuing the remainder of the Northern Cape.
This assurance was given by DA leader John Steenhuisen while on the campaign trail in the province at the weekend, in the run-up to the national and provincial elections taking place in a few weeks’ time.
Speaking to residents in Magojaneng Village outside Kuruman, Steenhuisen said a DA-led government was desperately needed in the province, especially given the ANC, with the assistance of the EFF, had failed the people and numerous communities through the years.
Steenhuizen said that while communities such as Magojaneng were located in a dry region, they were blessed with the presence of natural spring water – the Eye of Kuruman, one of the largest natural springs in the Southern Hemisphere – but this was not being taken advantage of effectively by the current governing party.
“This area should literally be an oasis in the desert, with clean water provided by mother nature, as all that is required is the infrastructure that transports this clean water into people’s taps, and for sewerage to be cleaned.
“The ANC-led Ga-Segonyana Local Municipality, however, has failed to take advantage of this natural blessing. It has failed to repair the sewer pump station; it has failed to clean and maintain the canals; and it has failed to maintain the sewerage works,” the party leader said.
Steenhuisen said that instead of being a blessing to people and farmers in the area, the Eye of Kuruman had become a curse, with its water contaminated by the corruption of the ANC.
Due to this, he said, taps regularly ran dry in Magojaneng for weeks and even months at a time, with the worst of it being that communities were still being forced to use pit toilets.
“This has not only robbed people of their dignity, but poses a risk to the lives of our children. Over the last 30 years, the ANC has manipulated the people of the Northern Cape with promises they never intended to keep. This includes the new school they promised for the villages of Ga-Segonyana, that despite over R85 million being budgeted, construction ground to a halt in November last year.”
However, under their leadership – with the appointment of Henriette du Plessis as the mayor of Gamagara last year – she had, during a short period of four months, demonstrated the significant difference the DA leadership had and could deliver to the rest of the province.
Through the cancellation of luxury mayoral vehicles, removing the mayoral driver and VIP security, and refusing to move into the expensive mayor’s residence and opting for it to be rented out, Steenhuisen said Du Plessis managed to turn a budget deficit of R47m into a surplus of R19m.
Further, Du Plessis had also used funding from the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries to create 250 new jobs to clean Deben, Olifantshoek, Mapoteng and Kathu.
The DA said that unlike the ANC where jobs were only handed out to ANC cadres, there was no cadre deployment and all workers were appointed on a fair basis under their leadership.
“In fewer than four months, the DA was able to make a visible difference in Gamagara, but the ANC and EFF were so embarrassed by the visible progress that people were seeing, that they brought an illegal motion of no confidence in Mayor Du Plessis.”
He added: “The first lesson is that the DA can rescue the Northern Cape. Imagine what we could do for this whole province with a full five-year term.”
The Star