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- In less than 60 days, South Africans will head to the polls.
- Ahead of it, a community activist in Rustenburg and his supporters are having sleepless nights over the state of affairs in their village and voter despondency.
- Like in most villages, development has come to a standstill, taps have run dry, and dozens of people are unemployed.
- News24's Manifesto Meter elections tool compares political party manifestos. Read more here.
Some 57km from the platinum mining city Rustenburg, more than 10 700 villagers in Mogwase go for weeks without water and are wallowing in abject poverty and unemployment, and their most pressing issue is being landless.
About 2 000 members of the Landless People of Mogwase movement were so frustrated by being "squashed like sardines" at the height of Covid-19 they grabbed land and settled there.
However, an activist in the area, Mmusi Moaisi, 40, who leads the movement, told News24 the issues plaguing the community could not only be attributed to an uncaring government, but villagers were also to blame for not voting in the 2021 local government elections.
Moaisi said: " I'd say we lost hope in voting as a community. The unfortunate part is that we expect less than the number of people who voted this time."
His plan, he added, was to "sway the community towards establishing a community council to deal with service delivery issues, effectively cutting out their ward councillor whom they have accused of not convening community meetings".
"We can deal with some of these issues ourselves and do not necessarily involve the man [ward councillor Thato Masako].
"Our problem is, when we do not vote, what are we coming together to do? You cannot just not vote."
Asked why they had not partnered with the EFF, Moaisi's friend, Maks Sesinye, said: "It's not just the EFF or landless people who are affected; everybody here needs a place to stay."
In Mosagwe, households line up with 25-litre buckets in front of their homes, showcasing the prolonged water outage, where, Moaisi said, taps had run dry about three weeks ago.
Villagers understand besides the high demand, the water crisis in the village is affected by ageing infrastructure and the local municipality mismanaging funds meant to maintain and upgrade water infrastructure, including a water treatment plant.
Moaisi said the village was "forgotten" and economic activity non-existent because it was on the outskirts of the mines.
"You have Rustenburg, the mines, Sun City, and you feel like you're in the middle and not catered for; we actually are pushed to the side.
"But it's not necessarily the entity's [in charge of the provision of water] fault.
"It's our municipality and the engagements that are supposed to take place; they do take place.
"However, the benefits from those engagements do not come to where it's supposed to come."
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Moaisi added proof the village was forgotten and neglected could be seen in the local park, which would have been ideal for a tourist stopover, but instead was overgrown.
The community wants containers to be erected that offer food, salons, a massage parlour, arts and crafts stalls, and a community centre, essentially establishing a village economy.
Moaisi said he believed this would complement the already existing tourism offerings in the area and the long-awaited Bojanala Special Economic Zone.
Former trade and industry minister Rob Davies announced his intention to designate the zone in 2019.
At the time, Davies announced it would be developed on 1 175 hectares, including the old Bodirelo industrial park in Mogwase in the Moses Kotane Local Municipality.
It was said the zone would focus on mineral beneficiation - especially the Platinum Group Metals - manufacturing, including mining capital equipment supply, agro-processing, and renewable energy.
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But could the plans have materialised had residents shown up to vote?
In 2021, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported voter turnout was an abysmal 41.24% in Moses Kotane.
According to Moaisi, about 3 000 people were registered to vote in 2021.
"Then, the turnout was below 50%, with the current councillor wining with 546 votes," he said, adding the fate of thousands was decided by a select few.
"None of them is actually doing anything to fix or to work it out," Moaisi said.
Thirty-two-year-old Boikhutso Seemela was full of hope when he aspired to become Moses Kotane's first independent councillor in 2021.
The campaign was a community effort; registration monies and signatures were collected at the eleventh hour and Seemela, who enjoyed the support of the Landless People of Mogwase movement, contested to become ward councillor.
His hopes were dashed when he lost to the ANC's candidate by a little more than 100 votes as residents did not show up to vote.
Though the loss was a blow, it did not stop Seemela from becoming "a community builder", organising youth camps and convincing residents to vote on 29 May to avoid a similar scenario at provincial and national levels.
He said:
After losing the 2021 election, Seemela continued to work as a community builder and raised funds to build a house for an elderly woman in the village.
"There were times when we didn't have money for materials; there were times when I wanted to give up because it was draining me physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.
"But you know, when you are a community worker getting emotional, when you are a community worker and a humanitarian, forget about you and put others first," he said.
