EFF offers suggestions for a better life
THE EFF held meetings with Emalahleni and Intsika Yethu Municipality residents recently, giving them the opportunity to raise issues of dissatisfaction with government.
In response to the complaints, the EFF tabled its organisational manifesto.
EFF central command team member and the party's Chris Hani District Rural Development head Zolile Rodger Xalisa said the residents from the two municipalities voiced similar challenges.
Xalisa, also a Chris Hani district national election deployee, said community members faced service delivery issues. “People complained about lack of water. Under the EFF government we will make sure to supply boreholes. Every house should have a flush toilet, whether it’s in town or in the villages.”
Unemployed youths are turning to drugs and alcohol because the ANC is not providing sustainable jobs.
“Youths obtain tertiary education but then there is no employment. This is because the ANC government does not have a plan to create jobs. This has resulted in many of them falling pregnant to get grant money to feed their families.”
The EFF would create jobs through nationalising mines and strategic sectors such as banks.
“We want to take resources home to generate employment to boost rural communities. There is a lot of money received from South Africans which leaves, because our banks are controlled by European countries. This money should go back into the community.”
The ANC did not consider these strategies as solutions to the employment issue because they were lacking skills and qualifications, he said.
Another challenge was poor roads and corruption, with jobs given to relatives. Residents complained about councillors who were not active in their wards and were not even known by their community members, said Xalisa.
“We are against the present RDP houses. When the ANC was campaigning it said the old government houses were match boxes, but they brought worse houses. They built a house with one bedroom - that is not dignity. We believe parents and children should have separate rooms, with a lounge and bathroom. People must not go outside to use toilets. The only party that can make provision for that is the EFF.”
Intsika Yethu residents are also unhappy with the demolishing of houses at Enyanisweni with Xalisa saying people had occupied the land without permission. “The EFF supports people who take land. If the municipality identifies people who have settled in a place that they were not supposed to occupy, it is its role to find them another place to which they should relocate.”
“We urge people to not accept title deeds from the ANC; we fear they will dictate what should happen in those areas. This is their way of gaining control over villages and make them pay municipal rates for water and electricity services. ”Xalisa said the ANC could not use the same systems for running urban areas and villages.