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The Democratic Alliance (DA) can today expose an ANC municipality lying to try and cover up its service delivery failures.

The DA has caught the management of Dawid Kruiper Municipality in Upington in the Northern Cape red-handed in its failure to manage the growing backlog of service vehicles awaiting repairs.

While the DA has repeatedly highlighted the excessive backlog in outstanding requisitions for vehicle parts, the municipal manager has denied that the backlog exists. He instead accused the DA of fabricating stories.

A drone image of the yard of the municipal garage, captured earlier this month, is evidence of the real story – a story of ANC deceit and collapse.

A number of service trucks can be seen standing idle, while service delivery in and around Upington continues to break down. In certain instances, something as easy to repair or replace as flat tyres has been holding up service delivery for months, as is the case with a non- functioning refuse removal truck.

In most cases, the crux of the problem rests with the ineptitude of municipal officials working in the Supply Chain Management (SCM) unit, who have no knowledge of vehicles and vehicle parts. In effect, requisitions for parts are simply never finalised. Earlier this month, the backlog of outstanding requisitions stood at 900.

Instead of the municipality implementing the DA’s proposal of appointing people with the requisite vehicle knowledge in the SCM unit, the ANC-run municipality rather folds its arms and allows the backlog to balloon further, while service delivery shrinks.

The only feasible option now is for residents of Dawid Kruiper and in municipalities all over South Africa is to accept that the ANC has failed, to vote it out at the polls and to replace it with a capable DA-run government.

The DA has a plan, as set out in our manifesto, to restore services. The choice is easy: more of the same collapsing ANC municipalities and the further breakdown of our towns for which they simply do not care; or DA municipalities that implement services and get things done, to secure a better future for everyone.

Issued by DA Whip, Dawid Kruiper Municipality  Flip van der Steen