#StopTheBus campaign: AfriForum hands over protest letters in Cape Town against transportation of people to presidential inauguration

AfriForum today submitted numerous protest letters of residents of the Western Cape against the president’s request – that municipalities of this province must transport 2 000 people to the presidential inauguration in Pretoria on 25 May 2019 – at the Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in Cape Town. The civil rights organisation also sent a protest letter to the presidency regarding this issue.

Municipalities are already struggling to make the grade and cannot even provide basic services to residents due to a lack of funds. Tax payers are burdened with irregular or no water supply, the non-removal of waste and raw sewage running off in streets due to the failure of municipalities to perform their constitutional obligation.   

“If you consider the current economical state of South Africa, then the costs related to this presidential inauguration are unjustified. It is unfair and irresponsible of the presidency to additionally place this burden on municipalities. It is time for citizens to stand up to this squandering of money and that is exactly what this campaign represents. That is why we are saying ‘stop the bus’ with the wastefulness of municipal funds,” says Deon de Jager, AfriForum’s District Coordinator] for the Boland.