North West has kept me busy - for six years‚ says deputy public protector
For six years‚ deputy public protector Kevin Malunga has had his hands full‚ mostly because of problems in Mahikeng and the North West province.
The town has been a scene of chaos for several days amid protests calling for‚ among other things‚ better services and the removal of Premier Supra Mahumapelo.
Although the past few days have brought the North West capital into the spotlight‚ Malunga said on Twitter on Friday that it was not the first time he’s had to deal with complaints from residents.
“In my almost 6 years in my current role no place has kept me as busy as alleged maladministration in the #NorthWest province and #Mahikeng. I’ve lost count of how many times I went there in an attempt to resolve the issues. The efforts clearly haven’t worked #MahikengProtests‚” he tweeted.
In a follow-up conversation with TimesLIVE‚ Malunga said that complaints about the Mahikeng Local Municipality and the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality - during both the tenure of public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and her predecessor Thuli Mandonsela - were commonplace.
“I went there so many times. There would be a range of issues‚ especially at local government level. I can safely say I’ve had hearings with almost all those municipalities [in the North West]. I’m sure there’ll be one or two that I haven’t‚” he said.
He said that “most of the stuff” he had to deal with concerned a lack of basic services.
“You’d have a long list of things the municipalities were asked to address. They were water-related‚ some health issues‚ but mostly water and service issues‚” he said.
Malunga said that‚ from his experiences in the North West and across the country‚ people’s dissatisfaction turned violent “when there is arrogance of power”.
“Very often‚ when you ask‚ ‘Why are you burning things?’ they say‚ ‘Leaders don’t listen to us‚ this is the only way we can get an answer.’ So I suspect this is what’s happening here [in Mahikeng]‚” he said.
“And I guess they did get attention [this time]‚ because President Cyril Ramaphosa cut his trip to the UK short and is coming to listen [to them].”