Ditsobotla votes on 4 November with the sewage gone and the rubbish still piling up
Boikhutso residents say the overflowing drains have eased but the township is still dirty, and the administrator running the bankrupt municipality says the new council will need time.
Residents of Boikhutso will vote on 4 November still waiting for their township to be properly cleaned, even as the raw sewage that once ran through it appears to have been dealt with.
The community in Ditsobotla Local Municipality, in North West, says the area needs far more attention than it is getting, and sanitation and service delivery are at the top of their list as the local government elections approach. The sewage problem that drew attention to Boikhutso has eased, but the wider question of cleanliness and basic services has not.
Kupong Ralikontsane, the administrator appointed to run the municipality, does not dispute that much remains undone. His account, given to eNCA, is of a council that has to rebuild its finances and its staff at the same time as it tries to deliver services.
He said the municipality cannot fund its water operations from what it collects and leans on government grants to keep going. He appealed to residents to pay for the services they use, including rates and taxes, and said the new council will have to move quickly once it takes office.
Ralikontsane put the scale of the repair in years. He said the damage to the municipality built up over about 15 years, from 2011, and that his team is trying to undo it in a short space of time. He asked residents to give the incoming councillors room to work.
The administration itself is thin. Ralikontsane said the municipality has one substantive municipal manager and no Section 56 managers, the senior officials who run departments. Appointments are under way now that the finances have stabilised enough to afford them, he said, so that services continue once the administrator withdraws and elected leadership takes over.
He also raised the prospect of electricity revenue. With Eskom present in the area, the municipality hopes to collect a little more, which would ease the reliance on grants.
For voters in Boikhutso, the sewage may be the visible win. The rubbish, the dirt and the sense that the township is still neglected are what they will carry into the voting booth.
The election is on 4 November. The Enquirer will report the outcome and what the new council does about sanitation in Boikhutso.
Source: eNCA, Sanitation problems linger before local government elections
