The FF Plus strongly condemns the destruction of private and state property by community members who used poor service delivery as their excuse for burning down the police station in Mashishing and for blocking and damaging the roads in and around Lydenburg with burning tyres.
On the 8th of March, unhappy residents congregated in front of the municipal offices in Lydenburg and participated in an unlawful protest action against poor service delivery, alleged corruption with the allocation of RDP houses and dilapidated water and sewage infrastructure in the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (Graskop, Lydenburg, Mashishing, Pilgrim's Rest, Sabie).
Threats were made that the protest actions will intensify if the Municipality drags its feet in meeting their demands.
The FF Plus has since obtained information indicating that these protests may spill over to the towns of Sabie and Graskop if the Municipality does not respond to the demands.
Both the unhappy community members and the Municipality are busy playing a very dangerous game of cat and mouse at the expense of people's right to freedom of movement while causing great damage to private and state property.
While community members know that the Municipality will eventually have to engage with them, the Municipality, on the other hand, knows that if it responds immediately, it will create the impression that it yields to criminal conduct.
The FF Plus is of the opinion that if the communities of the Thaba Chweu Municipality want to improve their circumstances, they should rather punish the ANC government at the polls and replace it with a municipal management that is financially disciplined and delivers services to everyone.
Voters must make use of their democratic right to vote for a different political party and not resort to the destruction of property.
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