While the people of the Emfuleni Local Municipality (Evaton, Sebokeng, Vaal Oewer, Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging) were fleeing their homes due to the recent floods, the Mayor, Sipho Radebe, was conspicuous by his absence.
This past weekend, the FF Plus worked side by side with Community Policing Forums, organisations and volunteers to help those in need, but the Mayor and his team were nowhere to be seen.
The Gauteng MEC for Human settlements and Infrastructure Development, Lebogang Maile, at least paid an oversight visit to the affected areas on Tuesday, but was unable to offer any plan of real assistance.
More than 300 people have been affected by the floods.
Two children and a woman died in the floods and people residing in the east of Vereeniging, next to the Vaal River, are cut off from the rest of Vereeniging.
Severe damage was caused to the R42 and the bridge when the Rietspruit flooded. Construction work was done on this road in 2019.
Lochvaal residents, who suffered losses due to the floods, are now threatening with legal action.
According to them, Rand Water did not warn them on time that initially six floodgates and later another six will be opened in the Vaal Dam.
They believe that if the Barrage reservoir's floodgates had been opened in time, the damage to infrastructure would have been minimal.
Approximately 50 families had to find shelter in a hurry.
The FF Plus will confront the Mayor at the next council meeting about his lack of involvement in the community he is supposed to serve.
It is clear that the ANC-controlled Municipality does not care about its residents' well-being.
Emfuleni deserves better than the ANC.
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