Angry community members from Ward 23 in the Collins Chabane Municipality embarked on a peaceful march to hand over a memorandum of demands at the municipality’s offices last Thursday.

According to the memorandum, the residents are demanding that the municipality should recognize the ward committee that was elected under the supervision of the Speaker, Matome Lebea. The residents also want the ward councillor, Lazarus Baloyi, to be removed.

“We are not here to fight with the leadership of the municipality, but we want the municipality to recognize the Ward 23 committee which was elected under the supervision of the Speaker,” the memorandum states. Community leader George Sithole also accused the current ward councillor of corruption and nepotism.

Another group, siding with the councillor, also submitted a memorandum of demands wherein it is stated that the Speaker must be removed because he had convened a community meeting that elected the ward committee without the knowledge of the ward councillor and community members. Factional battles within the ANC are given as a motivation for this appointment of a ward committee.

“We demand that the Speaker be removed, and we are also here to protect our ward councillor, because we are the ones who elected him during the 2016 local government elections,” said Charles Khosa. “If they have any private personal allegations that they are claiming about the ward councillor, they must provide the proof to us as community members,” he said.