As the ANC continues to fail South Africans in all spheres of government it leads, be it at National, Provincial or Municipal level, many residents say that the local ANC Councillor, Naeem Patel, should also be held responsible for the failures.
Residents say that Patel continues to praise or promote the ANC-led government on his social media platforms, posting messages such as: “…I reported to the ANC-controlled Provincial Government’s Roads Department that the lights on the R55, from the Erasmia turnoff to Weirda Road, were non-functional. I am pleased to inform you that within 48 hours, the Provincial Roads Department repaired the cable and restored the lights…”
In response, many residents told the Laudium Sun that it is a pity that Cllr Patel sees the need to praise the ANC for a service that they are supposed to ensure is carried out in any event, as the governing party. Residents added that the lights had not been working for months and that it appeared they were eventually going to be fixed, albeit at a slow pace of service delivery. They alleged that Patel was informed about the imminent repairs and quickly sent out the post so that he could claim the credit. Other residents further alleged that Patel, in many instances, “creates” posts without showing the actual date and time while repairs are being done, so that it would appear he was responsible for the response by the repair team.
Imraan Ahmed added: “Seeing that Patel is so quick to take the credit and give credit to the ANC for repairs being done in the area, then in all fairness he and his ANC should take the blame for the failures of service delivery in the area. There are so many failures which Patel conveniently does not mention, including the failure of the SAPS and CPF to effectively fight crime in the area, and the poor services and treatment that our people are receiving at the Laudium Hospital. Patel and his ANC have to this date not addressed the housing backlog for residents born in Laudium who have since married and even have children but are now forced to live in ZoZos in someone’s backyard because they have nowhere else to live. When has Patel posted about housing for residents, even RDP housing? Seeing that Patel praised himself and the ANC for eventually fixing the streetlights on the R55 after a few months, why has he still not, all this time, had the robots reinstalled at the intersection of the R55 and the M26 road going to Erasmia? The ANC-led Gauteng Province, instead of fixing the robots there, merely ripped them out some time ago and replaced them with stop signs, causing huge traffic congestion during peak times. There has been no post from him about the ANC’s or his failure in this regard. I believe that Cllr Patel is all about himself and the ANC and does not care for the community the way he pretends to. I just hope that sooner rather than later, those who are still supporting him — not those who are gaining personal benefits from him — will see through Cllr Patel for who he really is.”
Cllr Patel is part of the ANC PCO office, whereby councillors, members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and members of Parliament meet to assist local communities on matters of concern affecting them at local, provincial and national levels. However, residents say that there are many service delivery failures that are kept silent by Patel, with no feedback provided to the community. They add that Patel will post about certain repairs — even when these are carried out at a snail’s pace by officials — as soon as he hears about them, to create the impression that he and the ANC had actively worked on resolving the issue.
Cllr Patel’s WhatsApp message which residents say has caught him out a misleading the community
A recent post by Patel on his ANC social media page has led a number of residents to claim that it is yet another example of him allegedly misleading the community regarding progress reports on power outages and other repairs. The post related to a power outage in the Laudium area on Wednesday evening after the Jewel Street sub-station tripped. Patel sent out a message shortly after midnight on Thursday at 00:08, stating that, according to the Electricity Department, an update on the outage would only be made at 8am. At 00:34, he sent another message to residents indicating that “the switching team is busy at another outage but will do their best to attend to the Laudium outage.” However, just three minutes later, at 00:37, Patel sent out a further message stating, “Power is restored.”
Residents responded by saying that these latest posts were another example of Patel allegedly not knowing “his head from his toe” and that he was clearly misleading the community by not fully understanding what was happening, while at the same time portraying himself as having his “eye on the ball.” Some residents further claimed that Patel, in many instances, merely copies posts from other councillors in nearby areas without first confirming directly with council officials about the actual progress reports affecting his own ward.