Hlasela promises to haunt Free State government in renaming Brandfort

Brandfort residents have given the Free State provincial government 20 days to respond to their demands before Brandfort can be renamed. 

This is according to a leaked audio of a meeting between residents and government officials held on Saturday, 25 September, which forced the postponement for the second time. 
The first postponement was on 17 August 2021, three days before the scheduled renaming after Minister Nathi Mthethwa intervened following concerns raised by the opposition and residents over lack of consultation and objections. 

A Step Up SA News crew visited Brandfort and saw tents, which were meant to serve as sanitiser and VIP hosting booths. 
An emergency meeting was called on Saturday, 25 September 2021 aimed at averting a possible protest after signature boards with Winnie Mandela town were defaced.  

Mthethwa asked for a 30 days cooling off period as required to address concerns and objections. However, the Free State provincial government announced that the unveiling ceremony would take place on Sunday, 26 September 2021 only for another indefinite postponement. 

Step Up SA News has learnt that during a meeting with Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation acting HOD Kutlwano Tlhakudi, residents demanded that local artists be included in the renaming program,                                     20 security personnel from Brandfort to be part of the personnel,                                10 people to assist in terms of COVID-19 protocols and three companies for catering.

    
According to the source who was at the meeting, the community is not really opposing the renaming.
“We are not really against the renaming, but we gave the leadership 20 days to respond to our demands before we can all agree on unveiling and renaming,” the source said. 

Another source told Step Up SA News that Premier Sefora Ntombela must first address Operation Hlasela promises, which she led.
“In 2018 the Premier Sefora Ntombela brought MECs and private companies here making lot of promises and two years later only the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Public Works Health and Standard Bank have delivered fully, others delivered a little while many delivered nothing,” another source said. 

Below is a list of reported promises made during Operation Hlasela in June 2018 and delivered:
Department of Sport, Arts, Culture – Sport attire to 14 local teams,Department of Health employed two professional nurses,Department of Public Works did some paving and fencing even though the fence has since been vandalised,Standard Bank built three houses, theDepartment of Education fixed doors and windows at Matshidiso intermediate school. 
Below are departments reported to have failed to deliver on their promises:DESTEA – failed to provide equipment for SMMES, Agriculture failed to provide a jojo tank for a container park,the Department of Roads and Transport failed to build a satellite police station, the Free State Training and Development Institute failed to give out 10 bursaries.

There were also promises of school shoes for the poor and a government official was seen packing the shoes in his car before driving off.

Step Up SA News went to an area earmarked for the satellite police station and there is no sign of any work done let alone bricks.

It remains to be seen how the Free State provincial government will respond to the demands as the official renaming is depended on demands of residents considering the local government elections are few weeks away.

The office of Premier Ntombela did not respond to our questions including how much has been spent thus far, this story will be updated once they respond.