Residents of Matibidi, near Graskop under the Thaba Chweu Municipality in Mpumalanga, claim that they’ve been neglected by political parties.
The residents raised their frustration during the provincial manifesto launch of the Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD).
At least 12 political parties in the area are working together to contest the national and provincial elections in May. They will be contesting under the umbrella of F4SD.
Matibidi has been under the African National Congress (ANC) but the locals want change. Just like many rural districts in the country, the area still yearns for service delivery. And unemployment is rife.
“The councillor we have just concentrates, he’s working with the ANC members only. When there is an opportunity for jobs, he gives them to the ANC members. And the other challenge is that at Ward 6, there is a challenge in another section. There is no electricity they promise electricity during the election time but when the election time passes, even the electricity issue just stops right there,” says a resident.
“We are facing big problems because on a daily basis the unemployment rate is going up, also load shedding is killing the country. So I don’t have a lot to dish out. I think the leaders from AUM and F4SD on their coalition maybe they can change our govt and maybe our youth can get better jobs for all,” adds another resident.
“In this area, we struggle. We don’t have proper roads; we don’t have pavement and when it rains we struggle. Water is what we need the most, we can go for a full month without water, and no one represents us well. When the water systems break down, they break down. Now we are hoping that if we vote for this party maybe they will feel pity for us and help us with service delivery,” says a resident.
F4SD which was established nine years ago, prides itself on tackling service delivery challenges.
“So we have come together to share knowledge, mainly so we can share resources, share also the membership on the ground. So that we can have F4SD in Parliament so that it can also help to better this young upcoming parties. It’s been a struggle because as you know that parties at the local level are not funded so we came together and tell you that the ground at the national level is not balanced,” says
Dr Mbahare Kekana the President of F4SD.
One of the small parties cooperating with F4SD is the African Unified Movement (AUM). It celebrated its third anniversary and hopes to bring about changes in local government.
“People are still struggling with water, there are lot of people still drinking water with animals. There are so many households without electricity. The municipality of Thaba Chweu are employing too many people who are incompetent. So, if you are not politically affiliated that means you will always stay unemployed. Our aim is to get to parliament with the f4sd so that we can be part of policymaking in parliament,” says the AUM President Peter Makhubela.
The AUM hopes to contest and win the local government elections in 2026.
AUM and F4SD launching provincial election manifestos in Matibidi, Mpumalanga:
– Reporting by Nhlanhla Jele
