A woman from a rural village got the ball rolling with complaints about a lack of service delivery. The Public Protector investigated and found an entire province in dereliction.
For Eunice Tsese there was a significant moment in her fight for better municipal services. It was when a local council official told her it did not recognise online petitions - even hers with 500 signatures. Then he called her "forward".
She picked up the phone to the Office of the Public Protector to complain. Earlier this month, this complaint and 65 others had led to a report of 501 pages detailing a service delivery collapse in the Eastern Cape.
The provincial premier, members of the executive committee, several municipalities and the police have been ordered by the Public Protector to report to her on what they are doing to fix residents' problems.
Tsese lives and works in Gauteng, but Matatiele is where she calls home. Her mom and her children still live there.
When Tsese submitted her complaint in February 2021, the then Deputy Public Protector, Kholeka Gcaleka, was interviewed on Umhlobo Wenene FM. Listeners started calling and 64 more complaints followed.
Issues ranged from housing and social services to education, health and roads.
Almost all the complaints were substantiated, though the Public Protector noted that in some cases "efforts" had been made by municipalities to remedy problems.
"Everything...
