Are Shoba residents entitled to basic service delivery?
The irony is that the residents who are paying rates don’t receive basic services
A concerned resident contacted the Vryheid Herald and wanted to know why the Shoba area is receiving basic services when it is allegedly privately-owned land which was given to a community to live on. The resident highlighted that the municipality is providing this area with all the basic services without the Shoba community paying any rates. “In the meantime, the town is falling apart. The irony is that the residents who are paying rates don’t receive basic services. The community in Shoba protest about service delivery on a regular basis and the municipality provides them with it. How is this right?” said the disgruntled resident.
The municipal manager, Mr Zwelihle Dhlamini, responded that, “Water and electricity are basic human rights enshrined by the South African Constitution – Bill of Rights. Therefore, as the state, we cannot exclude this community when giving service delivery based on the fact that they reside on private land that was given to them to reside on.
“Furthermore, these basic services are not internally funded, but are funded through a basic service grant which is a universal grant for community basic services. The universal grants are the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) and Integrated National Electrification Programme (INEP).”
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