A WAVE of confusion and unanswered questions continue to linger regarding the future of the community members of ward 32, which currently makes up the residential and business area of Clairwood, that has been without an official ward councillor for the past year.
There has been a lot of speculation as to what happened to Clairwood’s elected ANC councillor, Romeo Zuma, who has been missing in action since 2018. Ward 32 PR councillor, Sharmaine Sewshanker, spoke to the Sun, shedding light on recent events that have led to the neglect of Clairwood and the uncertainty of its future.
According to Sewshanker, Zuma was very popular within the ward and used to be quite involved in the community before he disappeared. Following rumours and public speculation that he was shot in a hit, enquires were made about his whereabouts and it was soon discovered from eThekwini Council that he had indeed survived a fatal incident, however, no police report was lodged or specific details revealed regarding the incident.
A new ANC councillor, Thabani Luthuli, was appointed to serve in the interim while Zuma was on sabbatical. “He was meant to be the caretaker councillor of ward 32. I suspect that both councillors belonged to two separate factions on opposite sides of the ANC and because of this, people within the ward didn’t receive Luthuli very well,” said Sewshanker.
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Sewshanker’s suspicions were justified at a Clairwood Ratepayers Association held meeting earlier this year which was chaired by deputy mayor Fawzia Peer, and Luthuli to address the issues and future of Clairwood, as the area is under the process of being converted from a residential area into a fully-fledged industrial and logistics area as an extension of the back of port plans, together with the municipality. The meeting was, however, disrupted by an unruly crowd. “Peer’s attempts to address the Clairwood community turned to chaos after ANC members demanded the presence of Zuma.” Luthuli, failed to silence the enraged crowd, resulting in the whole approach being unsuccessful.”
According to the South Africa Local Government Association (Salga), councillors are expected to be in close contact with their constituencies ‘on the ground’ and to keep council informed of the real experiences and views of the residents within the municipality. Every council should be involved in various planning and policy-making processes, and specific programmes or projects that are being implemented in a ward, such as those being implemented in the transition of Clairwood. The council should also conduct information campaigns on issues affecting the community. Councillors as representatives, therefore, need to communicate these activities to the public in the interests of increasing transparency and promoting public involvement in these activities.
As ward councillors often receive complaints from the public on specific problems, they are in a good position to advise the public on how to resolve their issues. This has, unfortunately, been non-existent in Clairwood for almost a year. The lack of service delivery and issues of illegal trucking has also increased in the ward, with both Zuma and Luthuli missing in action.
The upkeep of Clairwood now rests on Sewshanker’s hands with little to no resources or power. “The ward has slipped into a situation where there is no service delivery or development planning in ensuring the safety of roads and buildings in the area. Buildings are breaking down, truckers are getting into questionable deals to operate in residential areas, unattended sewage leaks, the list goes on. The department of development and planning also needs to come clean with the residents of Clairwood and let them know that Clairwood will never be restored to its former glory due to the plans to the plans of conversion.
“With the absence of a ward councillor who is supposed to manage the budget awarded to a ward to upkeep the ward and improve the infrastructure, it has become extremely difficult for me to function as a PR ward councillor. When I meet with contractors or potential developers, I’m not allowed to bring on people to work on proposed projects I am not part of the ANC. It is a huge battle, but I cannot stand back and watch things fall apart without doing all I can to make a change,” she said.
Several attempts to reach Luthuli for comment proved unsuccessful by the time of going to print.
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