- Sowetans have urged City of Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse to attend to their electricity crisis.
- Residents marched to Phalatse demanding that she speak to Eskom about continuous power outages they experience.
- Phalatse promised to respond after 14 days.
"Terms and conditions of how things should be done to improve Soweto will be dictated by the people."
This was the warning by Operation Dudula's Nhlanhla "Lux" Dlamini, also known as Mohlauli, to City of Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse on Tuesday as he led hundreds of aggrieved Soweto residents to deliver a memorandum to her at her Braamfontein office.
The bone of contention was their call to end load shedding in Soweto.
They demanded Phalatse's intervention, asking her to ensure that Eskom supplies then with an uninterrupted electricity supply.
#sowetoshutdown Scores of Sowetans and journalists waiting for the City of Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse to accept a memorandum from Sowetans about their grievances including electricity blackouts @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/kVv1nza0fy
— ntwaagae Seleka (@ntwaagae) June 21, 2022
Things almost went out of hand when Dlamini told the crowd that they would chant five slogans until Phalatse came out of her office to accept their memorandum.
"If she doesn't come after we have sung five songs, we enter the building," warned Dlamini.
A few minutes later, Phalatse, accompanied by her officials, accepted their list of demands.
"The communities have given you a memorandum of their problems and suggestions. We will not only throw punches but also invest in solutions.
"Some complaints are that service delivery is in its worst state in Soweto. Khaya Magadla fell into a manhole last week. He hasn't been found. That incident happened because basic service delivery was not in place. There is no good reason for a manhole to be left open in a community full of children.
"Our struggle is simple. The people shall govern. We will sit with you and report the way (President) Cyril Ramaphosa reports to the country. You will have family meetings at every prescribed period to talk to people of Soweto. We can't have leaders, not only you, who lead us from television screens and radio stations," said Dlamini.
He called on Phalatse to have endless meetings with Sowetans.
"We had a big clash with you. When I analysed it, it was not your fault. You were wrongly briefed. You took a stance when we were fighting Eskom in Diepkloof. We are going to set new rules that will help us with solutions.
"Each community in Soweto will be allocated with a technician from Eskom to sort out problems with immediate effect. We don't hate you. We only experience you."
Dlamini continued that Phalatse should be more visible on the ground and use Soweto as a successful case study for her term.
"... in this coalition government, we have a mayor who can't move. She can't focus on the people's problems because she is worried about the coalition politics that might kick her out.
"The mayor says she doesn't know what I am talking about. I am here to teach her the reality on the ground. She is not our enemy. She is part of our solution. You don't work for whoever you think you work for. You work for the people of Soweto. We are the real bosses of your office," Dlamini said.
Phalatse asked to be given 14 days before she could address Soweto's problems.
"After 14 days, we will give [your] leadership our progress report and our turnaround plan. I have hope that if we work together, we will win this. We are working on a clean slate. We are not fighting anymore," Phalatse addressed the crowd.
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