Drama ensued at Matjhabeng local municipality this week after service providers who demanded to be paid for services rendered went on a rampage and vandalised the municipality’s property.
In a violent and hostile stand-off between the contractors and the police, the municipality’s gates were barricaded as the police tried to monitor the situation. The contractors alleged that the troubled municipality has, for the past eight months, failed to pay them.
The rampage caught the attention of Free State MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs Mxolisi Dukwana.
“The department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs is disturbed by the incidents of destruction of public property and storming of the Matjhabeng municipal offices by individuals who allege non-payment,” said Sello Dithebe, the spokesperson for the department.
“MEC Dukwana is further of the view that, to the extent that some individuals claim to have not been paid for services rendered, these must be dealt with by concerned municipal administrations in a way that these claims are properly verified and that they do not amount to irregular or fruitless expenditure.”
Dukwana called for calm and urged the affected parties to use legal and constitutional avenues to voice their grievances.
The contractors, who are mostly local business people, have accused the mayor, Thanduxolo Khalipa, of taking them for granted.
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