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Deputy President Paul Mashatile engages Ditsobotla Local Municipality.
Residents under the Lichtenburg based Ditsobotla Local Municipality in the North West say the national government intervention at the municipality is not yielding any positive results.
They lament that poor service provision has worsened since the municipality was placed under Section 139(7) eight months ago.
They are citing chronic water shortages, electricity cuts, crumbling infrastructure, and poor service delivery.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile is visiting the area to conduct oversight.
Scores of residents complained about poor service delivery during Mashatile’s visit.
“We were happy when the NCR was introduced to the Ditsobotla Municipality. Unfortunately, since they were here, nothing has happened. Instead, things are getting worse. we, as the Ditsobotla community, we are sick and tired. We want this NCR to go. We should go back to our worse situation with the municipality because they don’t have support. They are not doing anything for us,” said one of the residents.
Another resident said; “Here in Ditsobotla we get droplets of water after three or four days. We have to travel distances in order for community members to retrieve quality, drinkable, safe water.”
Ditsobotla does not need more meetings. Ditsobotla does not need more fighting. What this community needs is action. What this community needs is delivery.#FixingLocalGovernment#ServiceDelivery #ANationAtWork#YearOfDecisiveAction#PaulMashatile pic.twitter.com/sbuVJ9e4n1
— Paul Mashatile🇿🇦 (@PMashatile) May 7, 2026
No one among my team members and colleagues present here should ever say your demands are unreasonable. They are constitutional; they are just; they are time-sensitive; and they are achievable. Delivery must be felt in your homes, in your streets, and in your lives. pic.twitter.com/iAopnQb4fK
— Paul Mashatile🇿🇦 (@PMashatile) May 7, 2026
Our intervention in Ditsobotla is concrete, targeted, and already underway. We are acting decisively to restore governance, rebuild services, and renew hope. #FixingLocalGovernment#ServiceDelivery #ANationAtWork#YearOfDecisiveAction pic.twitter.com/taGHITnwXR
— Paul Mashatile🇿🇦 (@PMashatile) May 7, 2026
Minister of Cooperative Governance Velenkosini Hlabisa says the municipality has improved.
“This municipality had collapsed completely, and there was no government. We must therefore appreciate that you need to move from somewhere in order to make progress. I’m going to come back again to meet businesspeople because they raised their frustration building on the progress we are seeing. The intervention is yielding results. There was literally no activity. The water tankers were not available here. The boreholes were completely not functional.”
Mashatile has defended the national government’s intervention saying it has stabilised the municipal council.
“The council is now stable; the councillors are working together. They’ve appointed a new mayor, as you can see, he is here, the speaker and they’re working well together. They are now focusing on improving governance in the municipality, making sure that all things are done in accordance with all governance procedures and prioritising service delivery. Our role as national government, working together with the province is to support them so that we can turn around Ditsobotla to a become a working municipality.”
Mashatile also conducted oversight at different sites, and met with residents.
