Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Marius Marais and Sesotho soundbite by Jafta Mokoena MPL.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality (TMDM) has escalated the urgent matter of uncollected firefighting vehicles to the Free State Provincial Legislature to expedite the acquisition process.
Two fire engines and one fire bus, donated by the Free State Provincial Government, have been left standing in Bloemfontein for months due to the municipality’s failure to collect them. This inaction deprives communities of vital resources needed to prevent disaster.
The TMDM is responsible for disaster management and coordination within the six municipalities in its geographical demarcation. These local municipalities are Nketoana, Mantsopa, Dihlabeng, Setsoto, Maluti-a-Phofung, and Phumelela.
Almost all fire stations in these municipalities are now dysfunctional, placing not only the communities but also the Golden Gate Nature Reserve and Wolhuterskop Nature Reserve in grave and imminent danger of fire disaster.
Dihlabeng could not provide any information on how many functional fire trucks and bakkies they have in use.
Setsoto, Nketoana, and Phumelela municipalities have no fire trucks but one bakkie each in use, fitted with firefighting machinery, to fight fires in the area and rely on the assistance of local farmers during fire breakouts.
Mantsopa operates its fire station with only one old fire truck, making it ill-equipped for disaster response.
Maluti-a-Phofung municipality lacks a fire truck and operates with a few firefighting bakkies, which are insufficient to combat runaway veld fires and navigate rugged terrain.
Farming communities have their hands full when runaway fire occurs, with little assistance from the surrounding municipalities.
These donated fire engines can be of great assistance to the entire community. Still, the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality has no real and urgent desire to acquire these much-needed firefighting assets.