The regional ANC in Tshwane has called on Mayor Cilliers Brink to revoke the metro’s agreement with AfriForum, which will see the lobby group taking part in an initiative for providing maintenance services such as cutting grass in public places and repairing potholes.
The agreement between the two parties was signed this week as part of a project called community upliftment precinct, which was launched last year.
Residents, businesses and communities were encouraged to collaborate with the City of Tshwane in maintaining and improving public infrastructure within their residential, business and industrial areas.
The ANC, however, took a swipe at Brink for his choice of AfriForum as a partner in social projects.
The party’s regional secretary, George Matjila, criticised the DA-led coalition for failing to “comprehend the meaning of social compact and have opted for a racially segregated approach that will see one stakeholder, AfriForum, engaged in a social capital programme and partnership”.
Matjila said the City’s partnership with AfriForum would leave behind “the majority of other important players”.
“AfriForum is an Afrikaner lobby group that has masked its colours and work to service white minority groups while leaving behind a majority of Africans, coloureds and Indians. We call on all councillors from the City of Tshwane council to instruct the executive mayor to revoke this agreement which is an insult to the ratepayers who endure a lack of service delivery on a daily basis,” he said.
Matjila said the ANC viewed the partnership “as an affront to the reconciliation process and the majority of the City’s residents. We condemn it unequivocally in the strongest of terms for its wedge driving characteristics”.
During the signing of the agreement this week in Valhalla, Brink said: “There is a great deal of resources, enthusiasm and knowledge in civil society organisations, local communities.”
He said the City had also reached agreements with organisations such as Outsurance to assist with pointsmen in controlling traffic during peak hours, and the Hennops River Revival project for cleaning the river.
“This is one in a series that we are doing in order to empower local communities against what we can do together but we can’t do alone. Of course there will be risks; there are risks in any new approach. But the biggest risk is not to allow well-organised communities to assist the municipality to do functions such as grass-cutting and pothole repairs and so forth,” Brink said.
He said the co-operation with AfriForum was initiated to create a framework in which both parties understood their obligations with the objective of jointly serving communities.
AfriForum’s chief executive, Kallie Kriel, said: “Organised communities that act in the interest of their own communities in fact create a new reality in which a do-it-yourself culture is not only encouraged but can also flourish. Limited resources necessitate the optimal use of expertise and energy from within local communities for the benefit of the community.”
The EFF in Gauteng also rejected the partnership, saying “the DA-led government missed an opportunity to adopt the EFF’s proposal in council to enhance the City’s capacity, thus enabling it to fulfil its obligations without outsourcing primary responsibilities”.
Pretoria News