Residents urged to vote for change

In an effort to listen to the people in the Ugu District and prepare them for the 2024 elections, residents of Sea Park had a sit down meeting with the DA KZN’s chairperson, Dean Macpherson and the DA Ugu Constituency’s political head, MPL Edwin Baptie at the Alfred Evans Hall in Sea Park last Thursday.

Despite the poor attendance, the meeting continued and those present had a lot to say about the ongoing water issues, also questioning why Ugu is not communicating with them as ratepayers.
Some of the resident had gone over three weeks without water and on contacting Ugu they were told that the municipality was aware and would be attending to the matter.

Two weeks ago, residents of Pumula put up a sign saying they had been without water for over 51 days, however the sign was removed despite them having intermittent water supply, while residents in Umtentweni went 12 days with dry taps.

In response to the Pumula, Sea Park, Anerley and Tweni residents’ complaints over the past two weeks, Ugu spokesperson France Zama said that the municipality is aware of intermittent supply and that there were issues on the northern system. He assured residents that teams are working around the clock to implement lasting solutions.

Zama said the water issues were a result of breakdowns and leaks found on the system, as well as major valve replacement programmes which will involve extensive work to be carried out.
Baptie said he was aware that communities in Ugu and around the province are facing challenging times, and said it was time for democracy to work for the people.
Macpherson said that the only way to fix thing was to vote right in the upcoming elections.

“Over the past few weeks I have visited various communities in KZN giving them a message of hope, encouraging them to be hopeful, especially after seeing for the very first time the ANC being removed from governance. The DA decided to work with other political parties such as the IFP, to remove the ruling party by winning a number of wards.”

Macpherson said if government puts the people first and not politics, all is achievable.
He said that he understands that in Ugu water is a big issue and therefore he urged the residents to give the DA the mandate to work with other parties, to ensure that these challenges are resolved in six to 12 months.

“During our door-to-door visits in the area we also discovered that residents have taken it upon themselves to fix potholes as they are gatvol of waiting for the municipality to fix them.

“If the DA could take over governance in the 2024 elections, we would definitely insist that Ugu goes under administration and that an audit is conducted on the appointment of cadres in its local municipalities such as Ray Nkonyeni Municipality,” Macpherson concluded.

Howard Ridgeway a resident of Sea Park commented: “If we do not chase this government, the 2024 elections will be the last democratic election in this country as the ruling party will continue with its corruption and maladministration.”
The residents said they were grateful to have MacPherson in their area and are hopeful that change is coming.

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