Bluff war room farce decried

THE apparent failure of the ward 66 war room has local stakeholders querying the commitment the municipality has for the area.

Ask Bluffites why their suburb often has such a derogatory reputation and they will give you a litany of responses, but the common thread will be that the area is the ‘forgotten suburb’. Bluff Ratepayers Association chairman, Ivor Aylward and Innocent Ndlovu from the Bluff ANC PRO believe this to be a true description of the area. “Managers in the municipality need to be reactivated to do their jobs and not just have a title,” said Ndlovu as they look to the failings of municipal action in the area.

Dumping, poor maintenance, lack of infrastructure and failed promises are just some of the reasons Bluffites believe their area is of little concern to authorities. Comparisons to northern counterparts abound, with areas like Umhlanga and Durban North seen as pristine and well-kept in contrast. “The Bluff is neglected compared to other areas. We have invited managers to war room meetings and many of them never show up. We held a special meeting, to which all departments were invited, to tackle the squalid living conditions at the Donnelly Road convent. Only representatives from four departments arrived,” said Ndlovu.

The restoration of the Donnelly Road convent, which is owned by the municipality, was meant to start in August, but to date no action has taken place. A meeting of the war room was set aside to discuss the project, but was cancelled due to lack of attendance. “It is simply a no-brainer to waste time on a so-called clean-up. I am incredulous that a meeting could be called about such an issue. All that is needed is for DSW to bring in a payloader and three skips to relocate the rubbish and waste that has accumulated over ten years in the remains of the church. The housing department must commence their rebuilding project of the premises without further delay. The unfortunate inhabitants of the place are fatigued by promises and mere words. So am I. Service Delivery must cease to be a slogan. It needs to become a reality,” said ward 66 councillor, Duncan Du Bois.

Du Bois has called the war room meetings a farce, as time after time, they are cancelled due to lack of quorum. “Since June, the war room has been sputtering along. As an initiative, the idea of war rooms is impressive in terms of rhetoric but in practice, certainly in ward 66, it has failed to live up to expectations and has not delivered on a single issue. As such, I have to state that as a structure, it is a waste of time and money. I have asked to co-ordinator, Brenda Dlamini, to place future meetings on hold,” said Du Bois.

Aylward agrees that the war room meetings have yielded no results. “It comes down to a lack of responsibility. Why must I go on and on telling departments the same thing over and over and still get no response? Let’s use two examples – the first is Fynnlands, where 30 to 50 are people living in inhumane conditions in slum houses and in the second example, it has taken two years to get a response regarding the functioning, or lack thereof, of the weirs,” said Aylward.

“Officials need to be held accountable for their actions. That is the only way we will turn around the spread of decay and improve the image of the Bluff for residents and visitors,” said Ndlovu.