Residents march outside municipal offices

Residents of Ward 2 held a peaceful march outside AbaQulusi Local Municipality on Wednesday last week.

The residents, who live in Louwsburg in the Mthebeni area, were seen singing and dancing outside the closed gates of the municipality. The marchers mentioned that they had to hire transport and come to Vryheid, since they have been trying to reach municipal officials for the ‘longest time’ with no response.

The protest centred around service delivery issues in their area. March conveners Mkhanyisa Mthembu and Themba Xaba explained that they were born and bred in the Mthebeni area, and they have never had electricity before. ‘’In 2019, we started to try and negotiate this issue of electricity with the Department of Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and also AbaQulusi municipal officials. We wrote letters to the municipal manager, mayor and speaker, but we have never received even one response. That is why people are here, saying ‘enough is enough’,” said Mthembu.

Xaba added that they met with CoGTA officials this year at the Cecil Emmet Hall and fully explained the issue of electricity. ‘’After we were at Cecil Emmet, we were told to wait two months and we would get a response from the officials at AbaQulusi. Two months have come and gone, but no words have been said to us. Now that we are here, we are told to communicate with CoGTA. It comes as a surprise to us, as they are both pointing fingers at one another. All the households in the area did not have electricity, but now some of them do. About 91 houses still don’t have power. We just want someone to come forward and install electricity in all the houses, because this is not fair.’’

After singing and dancing outside the gate, Mayor Maphisa, Deputy Mayor Mazibuko and other municipal officials addressed the people. The organisers and convenors of the march were called inside the offices to resolve the matter.

Mthembu mentioned that the mayor told them that KZN MEC for CoGTA Sipho Hlomuk would be in Louwsburg, in the area of Zwathi, sometime over the weekend and they should try and speak to him. ‘’The MEC did not come and the mayor said he would be with the MEC on Monday in one of their meetings, and would speak to him.” The Vryheid Herald tried to contact Mayor Maphisa, but he was not available for comment.

The residents are said to still be waiting for his response and the installation of electricity in the remaining houses.

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