The mayor of Ngwathe Local Municipality mayor in Parys in the Free State, Victoria De Beer-Mthombeni believes that the burning of her mother's house on Monday was politically motivated. 

During a community protest over water and electricity; angry residents allegedly torched the house. Luckily, the mayor's mother and brother had been moved to a friend's house.?

FIGHTING CORRUPTION ?

Speaking to ZiMoja, the mayor says that her fight against corruption and maladministration has turned her into a victim of the dirty political game. De Beer-Mthombeni has been mayor since November 2021. She says that, as a council, they sourced an independent company to assess what has slowed down the process of getting sufficient water to the people. "We have brought in forensic investigators as an attempt to establish how the previous administration operated and what went wrong. We have since stopped some contractors from providing services to us because they failed to deliver but they were receiving payments." She believes this is sabotage from her fellow party members as well as opposition parties who want to see her fail by using some community members. ?

SERVICE DELIVERY ISSUES

De Beer- Mthombeni adds that when she came into office more than a year ago, the damage had already been done. "The issue of water shortages dates back to over 10 years ago." She says, she discovered that whatever strategies the previous administration implemented were not working; instead, they slowed down the process of water purification and put pressure on the community taps. She goes on to say that the temporary solution to the problem, in 2019 before she came to office is that, Jojo tanks were placed in the townships to aid the communities with their water struggle. But the community has since burned them, worsening their situation. "I believe that those who were in office then, kept the situation as is to continue looting public funds and give tenders to contractors who will share with them," she adds. The previous administration employed contracts to service the water treatment plant, however despite an injection of R22 million not even 20% of the work had been done. She explains that they have uncovered that some officials were benefiting from these contractors that were doing nothing. ?

UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY FRUSTRATIONS

The mayor is aware and understands the communities' frustration but says, the attack on her family was uncalled for. "I'm easily accessible. If they wanted me they could have gotten me. My security personnel wanted to escort me out of town when they came to the municipal offices, but I refused to leave. They never said they wanted to see me and I don't know how they expected to solve any of the problems at hand including electricity without talking to me."

The protests in Parys and Kroonstad continued on Tuesday. Community members said they won't stop until they get what they are demanding, which is water and reliable electric supply.