The Democratic Alliance (DA) is concerned for the safety and well-being of Khutsong residents in Merafong Local Municipality due to the increasing number of sinkholes forming in the area.
Some of the sinkholes formed in 2019 and the municipality has failed to come up with a plan to fix them. Instead, there are endless oversight visits and inspections but no solution has been offered to fix the situation. See photos here, here, here and here.
The Mayor and various officials have visited Khutsong, all making promises to fix the sinkholes and yet they remain open and unfixed.
Some houses have been without electricity for years as the electricity poles fell into the sinkholes.
Before the 2021 elections, Premier David Makhura visited the people of Khutsong and promised a R50 billion budget to fix them. Nothing has materialised.
The DA has made several attempts through Council, writing to the Mayor to get the municipality to fix the sinkholes, but our pleas fall on deaf ears.
The DA will through our Shadow MEC for Cooperative Government, Mervyn Cirota, request MEC Lebogang Maile to immediately engage with the local municipality to get this sorted.