- Residents of Harrismith, Free State are fighting back against the decline of their municipality.
- They are using the courts and intervening wherever possible in response to Marti a Fofan's failure to provide services.
- In the series, on the roadNews24 is touring the country to gauge South African sentiment ahead of the election.
Some Harrismith residents say their town was once considered the “Jewel of the Free State.”
Today, after years of mismanagement by the Municipality of Marti-a-Fofan, this gem has been reduced to ashes.
But residents do not simply accept their fate. They are fighting back through the courts, through interest rate boycotts, and by doing everything they can to improve living conditions.
Willem König, who has lived in Harrismith since 1997, was instrumental in establishing the Harrismith, Intervazue and Chiame Residents Association (HIT) in 2018. He is the president of this organization.
“Harrismites were the crown jewel of the Free State many years ago, but it has gotten worse and worse.
“We decided we could no longer live here or do business in this town. This is where our children are. This is where my grandchildren live. , we can't allow people to live in sewage. No one deserves to live.'' I don't care who you are,'' Koenig said.
He added that nothing was functioning in the town, from water supply to road repairs to bill and garbage collection, and the residents' association had to step in to carry out municipal tasks. Ta.
“For the past seven years, no trash had been removed from my house, so we started removing trash from our members,” Koenig said.
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Neighborhood association members pay for essential city services, such as trash removal, street cleaning, and general town maintenance.
The association is made up of about 500 Harrismith residents and pays a fee for its services. Some people are joining the ongoing fee boycott in their municipalities and paying their monthly fees and levies into trust accounts.
He said they would continue to provide vital services that local authorities were unable to provide because “I don't live in a pigsty,” adding that all they could do was “fight this corrupt system.” .
Drivers traveling to Johannesburg, Bloemfontein or Pietermaritzburg can enjoy the gardens and restaurants at Bergview Stop.
The colorful flowers and well-kept gardens are a far cry from the situation in the city centre.
News24 On The Road teams have been told businesses at the Burgview stop are having to truck in extra water and spend thousands of rands on diesel to keep the lights on, toilets flushing and stoves running. Ta.
The local Spar, owned by Marinus van Sandwyk, has been in business for more than 30 years, but the situation in Harrismith has forced him to consider moving the business elsewhere.
An emotional Mr Van Sandwyk said he was considering exiting the investment when politics started interfering with the business.
Mr Van Sandwyk explained that one of the challenges for residents and businesses is that municipal buildings are located approximately 50 kilometers from town.
“So any disputes or things that need to be resolved have to be resolved somewhere else. And since then things started to go wrong because there was a complete loss of communication with the municipality,” Van Sand said. Wick said. He added that the business had generated money for the municipality, but that money was not coming back.
“That's when we started noticing the real deterioration and lack of maintenance of basic things like roads, electrical infrastructure and even water systems.
“I don't think the sewers have been working for the last 12 years or so. What's happening now is just ridiculous,” he said.
He said he spends R45,000 on diesel and R20,000 on trucking water.
he added:
I started looking and it's sad for me. I've always been in Harrismith and it's not easy to move somewhere else, but I have to go where the money is. So if this isn't the place, you have to go somewhere else.
In 2020, the Free State High Court ordered Maruti a Fofan to take all reasonable measures to prevent, repair and maintain raw and untreated sewage from the city's sewage and sewage management system from flowing into Harrismith. HIT was ordered to take action and won its lawsuit against the city. Install sewage pumps and comply with legal minimum standards for sewage management.
In 2022, HIT won another lawsuit against the municipality after residents' power was initially cut off without a dispute resolution process. The city was ordered to restore power and not to do so again.
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Martía Fofan, which includes Harrismith, Petatijaba and Kestel, has been in a difficult financial situation for years.
According to the 2023 financial statements submitted by the municipality to the Ministry of Finance, it is clear that as of June 30, 2023, it had an accumulated deficit of over R1.3 billion, with total liabilities exceeding assets by nearly R450 million. Became.
Money is flowing into the municipality, which has received more than R1 billion from the national treasury in grants and subsidies. The municipality has a budget of approximately R1.6 billion, including other revenues.
The biggest expenses were “employee-related costs of over R566 million (up from R109 million a year ago) and bulk purchases of over R757 million.''
But it's hard to say how their money will actually be spent. Maluti-a-Phofung regularly receives negative findings from the Auditor General, which means that the Auditor General has provided insufficient evidence in the form of documents on which to base its audit opinion. Masu.
“Consumers were not given the opportunity to participate in decisions that affected them. Consumers did not receive any of the notifications listed in the policy above. The process adopted did not strengthen the interests of the consumer's consumer.'The legitimacy of the decision to cut off electricity is quite the opposite.'Johannes Duffy the judge said in his judgment.
He added that the city “has not fulfilled its constitutional promise of prompt and responsible government.”
Marcia Forfan has long been an ANC stronghold, but in the run-up to the 2021 municipal elections, ousted ANC councilors formed MAP16 and won control of the city. Further political intrigue followed and the municipality is now controlled by the ANC.
Koenig said political infighting within the municipality spilled over into the streets of Harrismith years ago. He said MAP16 had further “slumped” since coming to power after the 2021 local elections and working with the ANC.
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It was a rainy day when News24 visited Harrismith. It is clear that garbage collection is not such a priority. A large mud puddle in a hole in the road.
Local mechanic Siphesile Shabalala was repairing tires on a logistics truck when he spoke to News24. He said he was inundated with work due to the poor road conditions in Harrismith and was unable to respond to all calls as the road conditions prevented him from working.
“Right now, cars are not safe to drive here, and we don’t know the difference between a town and a city.
“The roads here are terrible. It's a big problem. The roads need to be repaired, so I can't find a place to work. It's not easy,” Shabalala said.
He added that the condition of the roads is an important factor for him ahead of the May 29 general election, but he is still determining whether his concerns will be resolved.
“I'm not sure. What I'm thinking about right now is, if I were to vote, what would I vote for?” he asked.
On Mauritsstrasse, two men were busy clearing some potholes. He didn't look like a city hall employee at all. Upon closer inspection, the plastic around the newly repaired hole was engraved with the words “Build It,'' the name of a hardware store located just a few meters from the street.
The workers suggested that they speak to “Mr. Doricas.''
“What we wanted to do was give our customers a better feel about the store,” said Dricus Greeff, general manager of Build It Harrismith.
“That's where the seed was planted.”
“Initially, we started with just the front section. It was purely for the client. Once we started and saw how simple it was in practice, we continued walking straight through the store premises. Then we… go street by street and try to support the community in any way we can,” Greif said.
“Basically, as soon as we started, most of the community, people like Mayday Alarm and Harrismith Panel Beater, started doing the same thing.”
He said there were very few roads “in good enough condition for regular cars to pass.”
“Years of neglect show that.”
“We feel like there's a pothole here in our section, primarily because we're receiving inventory, primarily because it's a lot of inventory.
“So we felt obligated to help in any way we could with that. But that being said, if annual general maintenance had been done, we wouldn't have needed to help. I guess.”
Asked for advice for residents and businesses in other towns facing similar difficulties, Grief said: “I know it's been pretty tough financially, especially this year, but if there's someone willing to… If so, I would say this.” It's a community project. Think about where you can respond by bringing together as many people in your community as possible. ”