Community members on the West Rand have accused a local councillor of interfering in the distribution of food parcels which were meant for the needy.
“The food was limited and could not cater for everyone. I had to prioritise the elderly. I distributed 32 parcels. Even to the ones I gave parcels, it was not enough. I never took anything for myself,” he said.
Matsha added that there are problems within the ward and people who are not happy with him were using the food parcels to fight internal squabbles. Food parcels have caused a lot of friction during the national lockdown as councillors have been accused of having favouritism and even selling the parcels. This compelled the ANC in Gauteng to give an instruction last month that councillors should never be involved in the distribution of food parcels.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has since warned those involved in stealing the parcels that they would face the full might of the law. MMC for social development and health in the Rand West Municipality, Nozipho Mapena, said that Matsha did not do anything wrong. She said there was a limit to the parcels.
“These food parcels were supposed to be shared among the wards. In Rand West we have 35 wards. There was a limit to the number of people who could benefit … the councillor is not wrong. Many ward councillors had those food parcels. They want to bring that councillor into this because of their own infighting within the ward,” Mapena said.
She added that the municipality was only able to distribute 3,000 food parcels, which was fewer than the demand for food in the community.
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