Kgatleng Council chairman Mpho Morolong says his council will not be intimidated by voters who are threatening to vote them out in the coming general elections.
Apparently the threat emanates from the council’s move to implement a new by-law that seeks to force farmers to remove all stray live stock in the village.
The council has given farmers six months to remove live stock out of villages in the Kgatleng district. Failure to comply attracts a fine ofP2 000.
Speaking to The Telegraph this week Morolong said the council and councilors will not be threatened by anybody. He said the council will not submit to any pressure aimed at forcing the council to renege on implementing the new by-law.
“We are not going to allow ourselves to be abused by irresponsible voters who wish to threaten to vote us out in the coming general election that are expected to be held sometime in October” he said.
He said Kgatleng villages have now become cattle posts and that has to be stopped. He revealed that his council has the capacity to deal accordingly with the new by-law and the officers are ready to deal decisively with those who will go against the law. He explained that sometime around August last year, deputy paramount chief of Bakgatla Bana Sekai addressed his subjects throughout the district about the stray animals that are not being looked after as they are an eye sore.
He said Sekai wanted to give those farmers who have live stock in the village two months to remove them but the council felt it was too soon.
“I met with Kgosi Sekai and discussed the matter further in which we both agreed that we should give people enough time to remove their live stock that is wandering about the villages”.
He said both the council and the tribal authority have agreed that those who will break the by-law after June this year will be fined P2 000 on the spot.
He added that once a farmer does not collect his or her live stock within seven days such animals will then be impounded by the council and will be lawfully auctioned.
He recalled an incident whereby a cow fell into a grave when mourners came to bury the dead instead of burying they first had to remove the cow from the grave.
“The Ministry of Local government is fully aware about our new by-law and has supported us in drafting such by-law and such by-law has being gazetted,” he said.
