Under the theme #MatjhabengWakeUp, Congress of the people
painted Stateway (Welkom) yellow on a silent protest which took place on the 19th
of November 2015. The protest was only for 2hours, where members stood silently
on the isle of Stateway with their placards facing traffic. The placards
highlighted dissatisfaction with the way the municipality is run as well as the
lack of service delivery in the area.
"Matjhabeng is not
just Welkom; We demand
quality health care"
Some of the placards read, “Matjhabeng is not just
Welkom; We demand quality health care; Stop wasting tax money.” Others highlighted
the issues of street light that aren’t working all over Matjhabeng, especially
in Virginia where the CBC is really dark at night; this makes the community vulnerable
to crime.
Free State has
been declared a drought disaster area and people have been told of ways to save
water, however it seems like the municipality does not know the importance of
saving water for there are areas with so many leaking pipes and meters where residence
have informed the municipality but nothing has been done about it.
Matjhabeng municipality has about 37% unemployment rate,
49.7% of the youth is unemployed. This cannot be fixed if jobs are still
distributed according to membership cards of certain political parties. It is unfair
for the people to be given leaders that are deployed by the ruling party,
leaders that do not even qualify for positions, this is one of the reasons why
the ruling party is failing the people and is not meeting their promises.
As The Congress of the people we are saying; “The people
of Matjhabeng deserve a better government, which will put them first. A government
that understands the importance of Freedom in the municipality. Matjhabeng
belongs to all who live in it and Matjhabeng isn’t just Welkom, a government that
will not forget about the other towns that also make up Matjhabeng. A government
that stands for Equality, that believes in equal opportunities, where jobs are
granted according to ones abilities and not there political ties. They deserve
a government that also stands for Solidarity; that respects the people and
understands that in order to achieve goals, we need to support each other.”
This event is the beginning of many other events and campaigns
of The Congress of the people, that will demonstrate that COPE is alive and is
ready to Govern.
Freedom, Equality, Solidarity.
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