The Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Ackerville invited different stakeholders to an Imbizo to discuss different issues and to find solutions.
The Imbizo at the church hall was held on Thursday, September 24. Different stakeholders were invited including the executive mayor.
A call was made that we need to do things differently and change the direction or way we do things. Those attending were also reminded that the church must be the social compass to give direction and has a duty to stand for the truth and moral values within the society.
Parish priest Father Linda Zwane raised issues reflecting on a letter from the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC). Father Zwane said he was concerned about load shedding, water cuts, protests because of poor service delivery, garbage all over the place and lack of communication between the local municipality and the residents they serve.
“As a church, we are losing hope, we fear for the future, we are heading for a total collapse unless we put people first. We need leaders who will lead us honestly and be accountable to the people. We are hearing a lot from the Zondo Commission and it shows the level of things in the country. Corruption is at its core, SAA, need a bailout from the taxpayer’s money, Transnet and Eskom have their share of problems. Venda Building Society (VBS Bank) scandal, Durban municipality, corruption in municipalities, in the different government departments, in the provinces and the list is endless. It all started like this in Zimbabwe and it led to the total collapse of the economy of that country. The future of the country is bleak.”
Father Zwane made a call to fight and resists corruption. He said the people need to rise up as corruption is the new epidemic. He added to say that gender-based violence is another concern and women and children need justice.
The other challenges raised by Father Zwane was that we have a dirty environment which affects climate change. He said we need to declare a day of cleaning the city and come out with programmes to improve the situation in the city.
Other speakers raised other issues as well.
The Executive Mayor of eMalahleni Cllr Linah Malatjie welcomed all the issues raised and said as the municipality they appreciate and point out they acknowledge that like any other institution they do have their blind spots, but engage to find solutions are the proper way. She gave a brief background of the city and pointed out challenges and problems.
“We are faced with an influx of people coming into the city; there are lots of illegal connections, imbalances in the different wards, poor payments to the municipality and other related problems. We always urged and encouraged our people to attend IDP Imbizos so that we join hands and prioritise. We also need to join hands to fight corruption,” said the mayor.
The mayor also said their doors were always open for any dialogue or programmes to find solutions to the city’s problems or challenges.
