The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to both the Municipal Manager of Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, Allen Losaba, and the Municipal Manager of Ditsobotla Local Municipality, Abel Metswemere, requesting them to immediately make provision to restore operation of the local fire station to the standard where they are able to attend to fire incidents effectively following the destruction of another property by fire.
This year alone there have been at least three other incidents where two houses and one petrol station office completely burnt down as firefighters could not respond to the call to quell the fires.
Please see photos here, here, here and here.
Ditsobotla Fire and Rescue Service is one of only two fire stations that service the entire Ditsobotla Local municipality.
Firefighters often arrive on the scene at least two hours after receiving the call, sometimes they don’t even come to assist as the fire trucks do not have water or are broken down.
A business owner in Lichtenburg informed the DA that he incurred damages of R600 000 when his business burnt down because the fire department did not arrive on the scene to assist him. As a result of this expense, he has been forced to retrench three employees.
It is completely unacceptable that the municipality has neglected this essential emergency service and now residents are at risk of losing their lives and property.
Both the district and local municipality must immediately make provision for the trucks to be serviced and to ensure that the fire station has all resources to perform its duties.
Where the DA governs, in the Western Cape, 95% of all fires are extinguished within the first hour of being reported. The DA-led provincial government manages 26 firefighting aircraft operating on 36 runways and will deliver 10 additional fire trucks to rural municipalities to improve response time to fires.
A DA government works to ensure a safe environment by building enough fire stations to adequately respond to fires, and we ensure that these fire stations are well-equipped and resourced to attend to any incidents.
The DA wants to bring this good governance and service delivery to the people of Ditsobotla and the North West as a whole.