Burial, toilet, landfill struggles for Ezulwini, Malkerns
MALKERNS – Ezulwini and Malkerns towns are struggling with burial sites, public toilets and landfills.
This was revealed during a tour by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Appolo Maphalala, last Thursday.
Malkerns Town Clerk Nomathemba Masika said the town had critical services that they needed to provide, which included public toilets and burial sites, among others.
Masika said they needed the intervention of the minister, in terms of an increase in subvention to provide the essential services.
Inconvenience
The town clerk said the issue of public toilets was an inconvenience to informal traders. She further stated that the women did not have shelter and worked in open spaces, where they were exposed to various weather elements, together with their produce which had a short shelf-life span.
Masika said the issue of a burial site was glaring, as it became a challenge for the town when a resident had died, following that there was no area designated for burial.
According to Masika, when the town was established, they did not have land where they could build civic offices, among other structures. She said funds would help the town with increasing land.
She stated that in order for the town to be sustainable, they needed capital, which would then bring profits for the town.The town clerk also highlighted the issue of government structures which were not maintained and that the council ended up being compelled to rehabilitate them for re-use. Masika said they ended up giving the structures to their employees, who worked on a farm.
Furthermore, she appealed to the minister to assist by meeting them halfway with rehabilitating the roads and fixing streetlights which were very costly.
Meanwhile, Ezulwini Town Board Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mathokokoza Shongwe said the way they were so healthy, people did not die in the town, hence it did not have a burial space.
Shongwe mentioned that by working with the nearby Lobamba community, they could own a burial site and landfill. He said the council would be more than willing to support the development of the programmes and they already taught outside the urban area about waste management. “We have echo clubs in Ezulwini community and Somjalose, among others,” said the CEO.
Shongwe said they were pleading with the Lobamba Member of Parliament (MP) and the Office of the Regional Administrator (RA) to assist as there were areas of leverage and institutions.
The CEO said the landfill was a space which could benefit everyone and not just Ezulwini town.
He said the fact that the town did not have a burial site meant that they did not carry out funeral services, adding that the way the town was so clean, they did not have a landfill.
Shongwe said the truth of the matter was that they needed to throw away waste. However, he said their ecological footprint stretched as far as Matsapha. The CEO said they would like to access land within the proximity of the town through working with the RA’s Office and the constituency leadership.
Responding, Maphalala said all issues raised by the towns would be attended to, adding that the exercise to visit the towns was not in vain.
Uplifting
The minister said the entire local government space was ready to support in uplifting the local government environment from where it was to another level.
He said only resources could limit them from extending assistance. Maphalala said they were picking all areas of concern, as they engaged with each municipality and all members of the senior management team of the ministry present were taking notes.
The minister said they were trying to package support frameworks for each municipality based on the findings presented.