Newly-appointed MK Party Tshwane Region 6 sub coordinator McMillian Pitje has vowed to fight against extortion in Mamelodi.
Pitje was appointed to his new position on 7 December this year.
“I have been in politics for a long time now and I became a member of MK Party when it was launched last year on 16 December,” he said.
He said he worked as a volunteer for MK Party leading to the May 29 general elections.
“My activism and experience in politics is probably the reason I was appointed as the sub region’s coordinator,” said Pitje.
He revealed that he was until recently an ANC leader in Mamelodi but was now tasked with a bigger mandate to lead the whole MK Region 6 sub-region.
Around 2009/ 2010 he became the ANC Youth League leader in Mamelodi.
“For starters, my aim is to unify MK Party members and ultimately unite the people of subregion 6 under the banner of MK Party and understand the dynamics of all wards in the sub-region,” he said.
“My other mission is to represent the ills of the community, being the mouthpiece of the community and also be the the eyes and ears of the community,” said Pitje.
“We want to change Mamelodi for the better and currently we have many informal settlements which have been in existence for 10 to 29 years and nothing is done about them regarding development,” lamented Pitje.
“We have a township where crime is rife and the rate of unemployment among the youth is too high, we have service delivery issues like water and electricity and these are issues that must be addressed without fear or favour,” he said.
He revealed that though he comes from a business-oriented family which has produced one of the youngest billionaires in South Africa, he doesn’t have any personal business interests.
“I will not speak I’ll about other organisations but our aim is to win the City of Tshwane Municipality in the forthcoming 2026 local government elections because the people of Tshwane deserve to be led by MK Party as they are not well serviced at the moment,” he said.
Pitje decried rampant acts of corruption that have made Mamelodi notorious and pointed out that MK Party will be working closely with law-enforcement agencies and other stakeholders around Mamelodi to make sure that the ugly habit of extortion doesn’t manifest itself.
“Extortion has repercussions as it creates more white elephants because it prevents people from doing business in Mamelodi as they will be fired to abandon their projects out of fear of extortionists,” he said.
“We are going to make sure that Mamelodi and the whole of Tshwane becomes an extortion-free area and I can guarantee you that a lot of people who find themselves on the wrong side of the law will be hurt and disappointed,” said Pitje confidently.
“We have elderly people in the community of Mamelodi and under no circumstances must they be threatened or intimidated by their children or neighbours,” he said.
“Issues like gangsterism and extortion must be eradicated as they have no place in Mamelodi and whoever is perpetrating such activities must know that the time for such activities has come to an end the MK Party will make sure of that,” he said.
He pointed out that MK Party is a combination of the best of the best and that expulsion and suspension of members must cease with immediate effect.
He noted with concern that members of other parties swear at the party’s leader Jacob Zuma but emphasised that they won’t retaliate but will instead keep their focus on MK Party.
He said there will be no favours done for MK Party members who are found to be ill-disciplined irrespective of who they are or who they know.
Pitje said MK Party will bring back the culture of voting in elections, which is something that has stopped among the elderly because of poor policies and programmes of certain political parties including those that are in the government.
“Our approach is we are going to involve the community in drafting our programme of action and residents of Mamelodi and Tshwane will own the programme as it will be based on their needs and not on the needs of the party’s leadership,” said Pitje.