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‘The only disaster in JB Marks Municipality is the ANC’: DA leader John Steenhuisen

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The Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, John Steenhuisen says almost all the North West’s municipalities are rated as the worst performers countrywide.

Steenhuisen was speaking on Thursday during a rally in Potchefstroom as part of his party’s election campaign in the JB Marks Local Municipality.

Steenhuisen started his election campaign by visiting areas that have a serious challenge with service delivery. They include areas in Ikageng, Promosa and Potchefstroom town.

The municipality, which is a product of the 2016 amalgamation between Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp, has a total of 77 seats in the council. The African National Congress (ANC) won a narrow majority of 34 seats while opposition parties combined obtained 33.

Steenhuisen says service delivery in the municipality has collapsed under the ANC.

“It breaks my heart to look at people’s living circumstances on Ikageng this morning and later in the day that the mayor has to spend R2 million refurbishing her office. How do you sleep at night when the people are living without water, sanitation, electricity, houses but you’re spending millions on refurbishing your offices? I will tell you if we win JB Marks Municipality on the first of November things will be different,” says John Steenhuisen.

The DA leader has strongly spoken out about the ANC billboard that portrays the municipality as the best run ANC municipality.

“I wanna tell the people of Potchefstroom, I wanna tell people of South Africa that this is the best run ANC local municipality in the country and this country is in deeper trouble than I thought it was. R2 billion of unauthorised expenditure. Thanks to the DA, the mayor is facing criminal charges. We’re pursuing that. Rampant corruption at the Disaster Management Centre that has been built in the past few years is still not occupied. Millions of rand have been spent there. The only disaster in JB Marks municipality is the ANC. They are the disaster,” Steenhuisen added.

The DA in the province says it hopes to make inroads in the JB Marks Local Municipality as well as the Rustenburg Local Municipality.

“I think the first step …in this province is to get the ANC below 50% so they cannot take control of any decision in council but they need to negotiate with other parties to get their decisions through council. So the first choice now is to get them below 50% and where we can govern. We will govern and we’re going to coalition after the election with parties that got the same values and principles as the DA. We will never ever go into partnership again with the EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters),” says Leon Basson, DA Provincial leader.

Steenhuisen is expected to continue with his party’s election campaign in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Friday.

 

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