Despite the cold and rainy weather on Tuesday evening, residents of wards 2, 4, 5 and 6 converged in their numbers at the Joza Indoor Sports Centre to discuss issues that affect them as municipal residents.
Despite the cold and rainy weather on Tuesday evening, residents of wards 2, 4, 5 and 6 converged in their numbers at the Joza Indoor Sports Centre to discuss issues that affect them as municipal residents.
In the presence of municipal manager Ntombi Baart, Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana and the respective ward councillors, the residents got a chance to voice their concerns and lodge complaints.
To start off with, Baart gave a presentation on what has been done by the municipality in the financial year 2008/2009 and what is in store for the next financial year 2009\2010.
Unlike the Ward 10 and 11 residents who complained about the insufficient budget for the youth and the construction of RDP houses in the coloured area earlier this year, the residents complained about lack of street lights and electricity in some houses, lack of tarred roads, lack of 24 hour clinics and dirty streets. By far the majority of the complaints were about water and sanitation (especially the bucket toilet system) and that there are not enough RDP houses being built. Ward 4 resident, Nodidi Maselwana said, "Unlike our former mayor, I hope the current mayor will be here and take our requests into consideration. As the majority of Ward 4 residents live on farms, we are asking the municipality for water and sanitation, as we still get water from dams, which puts us at the risk of contracting cholera as the water is not clean there."
Siphokazi Peter from Ward 6 demanded that they get flushing toilets as soon as possible because they are tired of the bucket system. She also insisted that they are provided with a time frame, as it has been a long time that they have been living in such an unhygienic situation. "It is my right as a voting citizen to get my basic needs attended to," she stated. Ward 2 resident Mkhanyiseli Solomon asked, "How long does the survey for building houses take?"
"It’s been 16 years since the democratic government started and the RDP houses have been built and in that 16 years we have been given different excuses why they houses can’t be built at Ethemembeni. Every time a new mayor and a councillor comes, there’s a new excuse," he said.
Before the municipal officials responded to the residents’ concerns, Lwana commented by saying he is aware of the lack of facilities in the community but he also urges the residents to work with the municipality and not report on problems which they, "as neighbours", can fix themselves. He made an example of people who report to the municipality even when their neighbour’s dog tears a rubbish bag open and scatters rubbish around. He says that people don’t want to solve their own problems, they just want to report problems to the municipality. "As the community, we have taken power away from us.
He said residents always complain about the insufficient material that is being used for the RDP houses and material going missing during construction but it is members of the community who work on the construction sites and who steal the material. He says the community in turn supports them by buying the stolen material from them.
Some residents then piped up and said that the municipality is still, among other projects, spending money on new traffic lights when the majority of the residents don’t even have the basics.
Municipal council speaker Rachel Madinda said, "I wish we could find a way of teaching people that funds allocated for something else can’t be used for another. We cannot take the money allocated for beautification of the town and use it for water and sanitation," she insisted.
