UMDONI REBUILD: Mayor extends her apologies
As part of the turnaround plan, there will be focus on service delivery matters such as refuse collection, road rehabilitation, verge maintenance and water and sanitation.
Umdoni mayor Mbali Cele-Luthuli has apologised to Umdoni residents, the business community, investors, community leaders and municipal employees for the extreme neglect and discomfort experienced in recent times.
This apology and an update on the current state of affairs of Umdoni Municipality after Cogta’s intervention was made at a media briefing last week.
The mayor was joined by Cogta representative DD Naidoo, and she used the opportunity to publicly acknowledge Umdoni’s faults and issues raised by the community over the past several months.
“We commit to doing everything humanly possible to restore the community’s confidence in us through vigorous step-up service delivery. The results of this will be evident to recipients soon,” she said.
The mayor said it was unfortunate that the community and employees resorted to instituting disruption of services in an effort to make their grievances heard but that the municipality was moving past this and rebuilding.
It was announced last week that Cogta MEC, Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi, met with the full council to communicate the provincial executive’s decision to intervene in the municipality under section 154 (1) of the constitution.
This step follows extensive engagements with the municipality and community members aimed at restoring stability.
The Section 154 (1) intervention, guided by the provincial executive, will provide the municipality with enhanced support from the provincial government.
As part of the recovery plan, the mayor said that the main focus for service delivery is now on refuse collection, road rehabilitation and verge maintenance.
“For the successful implementation of the service improvement plans, we will ensure that the municipality addresses the issue of vacant posts. We will ensure that critical, funded posts are filled as soon as possible.”
The Herald requested comment about whether the focus will be on the Scottburgh Town Hall matter as well. The hall has been illegally occupied by vagrants since 2022.
The mayor noted this concern and said that the matter is a priority and is being dealt with in the turnaround plan.
There will also be some focus on water and sanitation matters.
The municipality has a goal of boosting local tourism and getting things running as they once did, this before the festive season.
Cele-Luthuli and Naidoo pleaded with the community to be patient during this turnaround time.
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