‘Ward 19 has had enough’
“We are no longer settling for crumbs!”
This is the sentiment echoed by ward 19 residents during a protest march on Monday, when traffic was brought to a standstill as the group marched from SABC Park to the Polokwane Municipality.
The march, which was led by the Westenburg Development Forum (WDF) saw residents singing struggle songs as they made their way to the municipality where they handed over a memorandum of demands.
Some of the demands stated in the memorandum include the return of land at Extension 40 to ward 19 for residents to decide how they want it developed and that all sale of land in ward 19 be stopped immediately due to lack of community engagement.
“You come and take our land and give it to people. You cannot come and develop land without the will of the people, you have not consulted us as the Westenburg community when you robbed us of Extension 40,” said WDF Spokesperson, Sarel Martin.
Another issue was the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) of which they demanded answers to why the budget allocated to ward 19 had over years been shifted to other communities leaving ward 19 with no substantive development in the ward.
“We are tired of being neglected, we are tired of being put aside and we are tired of struggling for the crumbs, we want the cream of the cake as well. We want answers for our budget which you have been shifting for over two decades to other communities, we demand answers.
“For over two decades, you have developed communities around here but neglecting Westenburg. Westenburg deserves as much as other communities in Polokwane,” added Martin.
They further demanded that land be made available for the construction of a multipurpose youth centre, skills hub and a clinic.
Another demand was that their libraries have computers with internet and Wi-Fi for use by community members. They also demanded that all historical municipal debt of ward 19 residents be written off like other communities and that tariff charges for use of community facilities be revised.
They demanded that municipality’s economic development unit facilitate a meeting between business and community representatives in ward 19; that the current waste transfer station be properly fenced off and manned; that the Leeto bus route include Westenburg, among other demands.
The memorandum was received by William Kganyago, Acting Executive Mayor.
Thipa Selala, Spokesperson for the municipality confirmed that they received the memorandum of demands and that they will reply within seven days.
“The municipality is always open to engagements with communities, and we continue to engage with ward 19 residents,” he said.