Aggrieved must turn to the legislature for help, says Helen Sauls-August

Speaker of the Bhisho legislature Helen Sauls-August has urged communities to turn to it for help if they are aggrieved, instead of destroying public property.

In a statement, Sauls-August said while it was the constitutional right of all South Africans to protest, the destruction of public roads was not the way to go about it.

Her statement comes as Butterworth CBD was shutdown on Monday and Tuesday, when residents took to the streets due to a lack of water.

Sauls-August said: “The citizens must rely on the legislature to resolve their service delivery complaints.

“Our intention is to encourage communities away from the destructive community protests and persuade them to bring their issues through our parliamentary channels such petitions and constituency offices”.

She said it was an indictment on the legislature if people who were aggrieved by lack of government services would rather embark on destructive protests instead of approaching the legislature.

“It can’t be. It therefore becomes incumbent that we maximize use of our constituency offices, intensify public participation and education for us to gain public trust as this institution,” Sauls-August said.