Protesters disrupt registration

MOUNTAINVIEW – The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) registration process at The Mountainview voting station outside Mahwelereng was disrupted by community members protesting about the lack of water in the area on Saturday morning. IEC area manager, Lekgoana Makhafola said that, “the IEC have nothing to do with service delivery and such grievances should be addressed to the local municipality.”
This community protest was related to an unrest near the N11 road on Friday morning where community members protested about the lack of a proper water supply. The municipality intervened and demanded that the protesters elect a representative team to resolve the situation.
A meeting was held on Sunday morning at Mountainview traditional house between the community and the municipality.
Mogalakwena municipality divisional head of communications, Malesela Selokela, said that the community and the municipality agreed on terms that a contractor will be hired to deliver water in the community.
The IEC cancelled its operations at Mountainview on Sunday, but said it would still give voters an opportunity to register. “We believe that citizens should exercise their right to vote, because if they don’t vote but need government assistance, they’ll retaliate if services aren’t provided,” added Mr. Makhafola.
The IEC faced decline in voter’s registrations statistics compared to last registrations. Local youths weren’t participative in this year's registrations and the IEC believes that the message of registering was not campaigned effectively.
They believe that political parties didn’t canvass their message actively. Ezekiel Mojela, ANC ward 31 committee member stated that the issues of corruption, unemployment, poor service delivery and poor administration at local government are factors resulting in poor attendance.
He believes that poor service delivery has a strong connection with corruption, and strategies should be implemented to fight corruption. “Community outrage have negative impact on the municipality’s performance, protesting against local government will not help much but rather to cast our vote to bring people who are willing to serve our community,” he said.