No park and no money – residents want to know what happened to decade-old project
As the municipality would like to complete those projects but there is areas of priority projects.
Community members of eMzinoni wanted to know what happened to the R5m from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) meant to refurbish the Bethal Regional Park almost a decade ago.
According to residents, the park was leased to a businessman without thorough consultation with the community.
They also wanted to know what criteria were used before the park was leased.
“We don’t have a problem that the park was leased. Our problem is with projects that have been left uncompleted, such as the regional park and the Bethal Multi-purpose Centre that have never been finished. What happened to the money allocated to these projects?” a resident asked.
“What happened to the contractor who was supposed to complete the job?
“Is this the norm for service providers to just take money and leave the incomplete projects? How can the municipal leaders just accept this?
“We placed those in power through our votes and we want them to be accountable,” said another concerned community member.
The Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM) executive mayor, Nhlakanipho Zuma, agreed there were municipal projects of which some are incomplete.
Zuma said those projects include the Bethal Multi-purpose Centre and the Bethal Regional Park. According to him, the money allocated for the park was correctly used, but insufficient to complete the park.
“The municipality want to complete these projects but there are other projects that take priority, such as water and sanitation projects that will do away with sewage spills, and energy projects.
“The incomplete projects, such as the multi-purpose centre and the park, were implemented almost 10 years ago and not completed at that time. That is why you will find that some of the projects are not even on our priority list, ” said Zuma.
According to Zuma, this is the reason they leased the land to a private business person to operate it until the municipality can upgrade it and continue with the park. Zuma also said the municipality might not lease it to the same businessman once his contract lapses.
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