In Lekwa municipality, traffic lights don’t work. Raw sewage flows from the treatment plant into the Vaal River. Children die because there are no firetrucks. And political infighting is hindering change.
Lekwa municipality is the epitome of a broken municipality. Constantly in battles with Eskom and the national water and sanitation department to stop the power and water being disconnected, its outstanding debt is one of the highest in the country. In October, three children died when their home burned down with them inside. The fire department could not respond. Despite millions of rand being spent, it had no working trucks.
Kemp said: “There is a long list of things we do that the municipality is meant to do, like picking up rubbish, cleaning storm water drains, [filling]potholes and taking down the abortion notices [offering illegal terminations].” When the municipal rubbish tip starts overflowing, the crew asks businesses to lend their earth-moving machinery to push it back.
Meyers is referring to the fate of the ANC councillors who removed the mayor, Dhlamini, who are under pressure to change their decision. Businesses have had to find their own solutions — last year, JSE-listed poultry producer Astral Foods took the municipality to court over water–supply problems to its poultry processing plant in the area and built its own water-treatment plant. But not all businesses can afford to do this; others have simply closed.
Kock said that in the past six months there had been at least a dozen fires that his team could not respond to. “This is very frustrating. Most of my firefighters are staying in the township and can you imagine what their neighbours are saying to them?”
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