SAHRC is concerned about Mpumalanga municipalities

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SAHRC is concerned about Mpumalanga municipalities
PROBE: The South African Human Rights Commission will look into Mpumalanga municipalities' failure to deliver services to the people. PICTURE BY Mail & Guardian

The commission says for years now it has been receiving complaints of bad governance.


South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is asking the public to make submissions as it continues to investigate complaints of bad governance in Mpumalanga municipalities.

In a statement on Tuesday 27 July 2021, the SAHRC said the deteriorating state of Mpumalanga municipalities infringed on residents’ “fundamental human rights” and was in violation of several socio-economic rights contained in the country’s constitution.

The commission has lodged an inquiry into the state of the municipalities which is set to take place from 27 September to 01 October 2021 at the Ehlanzeni Disaster Management Centre in Mbombela.

Submissions must be sent to smlombo@sahrc.org.za or delivered to First Floor Allied Building, 34 Brown Street, Nelspruit, 1200 before 20 August 2021.

“The commission continues to receive service delivery complaints against various municipalities,” SAHRC provincial manager Eric Mokonyama said in the statement.

“The issues raised in the various complaints included the failure by municipalities to provide water and housing, sewage spillages, sewage treatment challenges, electricity outages, non-collection of refuse and potholes on the roads,” he said.

Therefore the inquiry will investigate these issues on a “systematic level”.

“The objectives of the inquiry are to, amongst others, assess the state of service delivery within local municipalities in Mpumalanga from a multi-stakeholder perspective and explore solutions to the identified challenges, with the view to ultimately making findings, recommendations and directives aimed at addressing the identified service delivery challenges.

As part of the inquiry, members of the public and civil society organisations are invited to make submissions to the Commission specifically regarding their experience of service delivery in their local municipalities. The submissions should include possible solutions to addressing service delivery challenges which negatively impact citizens’ fundamental human rights,” said Mokonyama.

(edited MLM)

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