Protesters want heads to roll at Great Kei
MORE than 1 000 residents of Great Kei Municipality yesterday braved rain and marched to the municipal offices in Komga, calling for mayor Loyiso Tshetsha’s head and the entire council to step down.
The angry group accused the council, which has been in power for six months, of failing to deliver services while the mayor was accused of plundering municipal funds.
This was after his driver crashed the mayor’s official car in December last year, which is now reportedly being repaired at a cost of R500 000 to be paid from municipal coffers.
Residents who submitted a sevenpage petition to the mayor in person, said Tshetsha was actually in the car coming from the Great Kei Summer Festival in Kei Mouth and that the story of his driver having been alone was just a cover-up.
Tshetsha, stood behind a steelbarred and locked gate under an umbrella while residents on the others side endured a heavy shower of rain.
He denied he was in the car during the accident although he confirmed he attended the festival.
In their petition, residents accused the mayor of behaving “in a shameful manner which is detrimental to the council as well as the achievement of the council’s overall development objectives as stipulated in Section 152 of the SA constitution”.
Part of the petition was read out to Tshetsha by community leader Weaver Sinqana.
Sinqana said: “You lack professionalism and urgency in carrying your mandated duties within the council.”
He read out a claim of inappropriate relationships with employees which was bringing council into “disrepute”. Tshetsha denied the allegations. Tshetsha, after receiving the petition, said he, together with the Great Kei council, would study the contents thoroughly and respond accordingly within the “14- to 21-day” deadline. —