Mangaung mayor promises to address issues raised by MSDF

Mangaung Metro mayor Mxolisi Siyonzana has promised to address all the issues raised by the Mangaung Service Delivery Forum (MSDF).

Members of the MSDF marched to the Mangaung headquarters demanding jobs, better roads and basic services. They also want the mayor to address the issue of foreign nationals who are running unregistered businesses in the city.

Siyonzana accepted a memorandum of grievances from the pressure group, saying he will meet with the leaders to see which challenges could be resolved immediately.

“I heard what the community is saying. I’ve got the memorandum; I’m going to look at it. We are going to make sure that our people receive the services that they deserve. Those who are living in ward 17 who are talking about sites, we are going to deal with that, your leaders, myself, we are going to sit down and make sure that most of the things that are here are addressed.”

Today’s march was not the first one, calling for the same demands.  The Forum has threatened to shut down the city if their demands are not met.

Leader Potso Motoko, “We are happy because what we demanded is the executive mayor himself to come and accept the memorandum and that we managed. We expect the response because we cannot always march and march. We want the responses according to our timeframe and if they fail to do that, we are calling for a total shutdown, of which we’re busy preparing for.”

Parliament’s Committee on Cooperative Governance has called for calm.

Earlier, the committee threatened to dissolve the Metro’s council if they fail to clean their house.

Chairperson Select Committee on Cooperative Governance China Dodovu says, “We are saying let there be calm. Let there be peace. Those who are exercising their democratic rights to protest, to protest their dissatisfaction, they must not damage properties, threaten lives, they must not attack people. They must do that in a very peaceful way. And we are saying let them give us space and time.”

The Mayor and his executive team are set to meet the civic group next Tuesday.