Angry community members had threatened that the offices would not be allowed to reopen.
MAGARENG Local municipality has dismissed rumours that it will interdict five members of the Warrenton Concerned Community Group after angry community members shut down the municipal offices last week.
Community members, who said they were angry and frustrated by poor service delivery, stormed the municipal offices on Thursday last week and shut down the local authority.
The municipal offices remained closed on Friday but were reopened on Monday without any incident.
Upon shutting down the municipality last week, community members had threatened that the offices would not be allowed to reopen until the Northern Cape premier had met with them.
They demanded that Premier Zamani Saul meet with them after Warrenvale was without electricity for four days last week and experienced continued water woes.
Before targeting the municipal offices last week, the aggrieved community members had been closing down the N12 road in protest against the power and water cuts.
They apparently refused to engage with a delegation from the Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta), which was dispatched to hear their grievances last Thursday.
The community members demanded that the premier respond to a memorandum of demands that he had accepted last year.
In January this year, the Magareng mayor, Neo Mase, had blamed “dirty politics” for the water challenges.
She indicated that water valves had been closed intentionally to prevent the water tank from filling up.
Mase said that a new water treatment plant was under construction, and was expected to be completed in June this year. She promised that the water woes would be a thing of the past once the plant is completed.
Municipal spokesperson Thapelo Jacobs said on Monday that no one was issued with an interdict.
According to Jacobs, the municipal offices opened without any incident on Monday and will continue to do so.
“Those are rumours. The municipality has an obligation to provide services and will continue doing so. Everyone has the right to access basic services and everyone has the democratic right to protest,” said Jacobs.
