eMBALENHLE – Ext 20 residents have slammed Mr Dan Nhlapho, MMC for Technical Services of Govan Mbeki Municipality, and labelled him as arrogant and rude.
This came after he allegedly refused to address them over the electricity crisis in the area.
They were up in arms and said they have been without power for more than three months and have lost count of how many times they have reported the problem to the council.
Also read: eMbalenhle residents are fed up with Govan Mbeki Municipality
Residents went to Secunda in search of Mr Nhlapho to report the matter, but when they arrived at his office they were informed that he was at eMbalenhle Fire Station.
“He told us over the phone that we could go there to see him.
“When we got there, he was speaking on the phone and told us to stand aside.
“He later said we should contact the officials.
“We voted him into power and he can’t treat us like that,” said a resident.
Ms Victoria Mbiye, ward committee member, urged the municipality to address the electricity crisis and said this problem is putting the lives of ward committee members in danger.
She said her gate was removed by angry residents who were accusing her of not reporting their problems to the municipality.
“Now I fear for my life and I urge that the leadership communicate with the residents.
“A colleague of mine was nearly assaulted and torched by angry residents because of the electricity problems in the area.
“Residents now direct their frustrations at us. We have been with the ward councillor, Mr John Nkosi, but we did not get help from the municipality.”
Residents feel their ward is not attended to because Mr Nkosi is one of the nine ANC protesting councillors who decided to refrain from council responsibilities until service delivery issues are addressed in the area.
Also read: eMbalenhle businesses and residents join protesting ANC councillors
While the Ext 20 residents were at the fire station, a group of residents from Ext 26 and 5 came to report electricity problems in their areas.
Mr Nhlapho said it is untrue that he ignored the residents and said he assigned the manager of the electrical department to attend to the matter.
“While I was meeting with the community, I called Mr Elijah Mkobhe to assess the issue.
“We experience problems because of the high number of consumers, however we are going to put in transformers in various sections, including Mandela Section, Extension 26 and Extension 22.
“We are forced to implement load shedding as an interim solution.”
Mr Nhlapho also blamed the electricity problems on illegal connections.
Also read: Electricity theft is an open secret in Extension 22 in eMbalenhle
