Service delivery concerns in Ward 17 are aired at a community meeting
Ms Vorster raised her concerns on electricity billing and spoke on how strange it is that refuse trucks are said to be broken but at night fall suddenly make various trips
Last Wednesday evening saw Ward 17 residents walk into the Drakensview Primary School hall with heavy hearts.
A community meeting was held by Ward 17 Councillor, Mr Mvelase along with, Community Police Forum (CPF), municipal management and Administrator Thandolwethu Manda.
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Off to a late start, the meeting began in the absence of municipal management and Mr Manda. Issues of development, non-functional street lights and potholes are a few of the concerns residents wanted to address with Mr Manda.
After the last community meeting, Mr Mvelase reported that no action has been taken about with the various issues he has brought to the municipality’s attention.
“Dovetree Road is still incomplete, roads not resurfaced, there are bigger potholes and incomplete roads,” listed Mr Mvelase.
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Sonja Vorster felt that the late arrival of Mr Manda was disrespectful. Ms Vorster raised her concerns on electricity billing and spoke on how strange it is that refuse trucks are said to be broken but at night fall suddenly make various trips to Heritage Road.
The meeting came to a standstill while still waiting for municipal management and Mr Manda to join the meeting.
One woman was heard saying: “The announcement made the day before was not even clear, if it had not been for a Facebook post, I would not have known about this.”
David Allen aired his views and concerns before having to excuse himself.
“I am not sure whether I must say we have or had one of the best camera systems. I remember being in the control room, when a camera in Forderville could zoom into my swimming pool on the other end of town.Â
“A lot of our problems can be solved if we can restore our surveillance system,” said Mr Allen.
One another man said: “We are to blame because we invite out of town people here and watch them wreck our town as they race on our roads, trash rubbish everywhere and we are quick to blame the municipality, learn to blame the right people.”
Mr Manada then arrived and introduced himself and went on to explain how Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality was placed under administration.
“I am here to see that there is a good cash flow, a good audit opinion as well as that there is good governance within this municipality,” he said.
Other points residents raised, which both Mr Manda and Mr Mvelase took note of, were that local businesses get no support from the municipality, there are no public toilets, long grass is sprouting everywhere, no shopping centres, filthy parks, Extended Public Work Program (EPWP) workers playing cards and even the unemployment rate was addressed.
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Residents told Mr Manda that they are prepared to open a private bank account to pay their rates until they see development and service delivery.
Ward 17 residents are fed up and got their issues off their chests, with Mr Manada requesting two months for resources to attend to issues and then a follow up meeting can be held.
Nearing the closure of the meeting, one resident said it would make him happy to see the municipality going back to basics.
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