Grocott's Mail

Praise where praise due ‒ but not yet in Riebeeck East

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Contractor­s in Riebeeck East allegedly damaged playground equipment. While I have no objection and encourage praise where it is due I feel that before doing so we should get our facts straight. Imagine our surprise as a community to read the Grocott’s singing the praises of Makana’s work in Riebeeck East (‘Building Makana’, Grocott’s Mail, 27 January 2017).

First, the name of the location is KwaNomzamo and not Kwanonzwak­azi. Kwanonzaka­zi is in Alicedale. Let’s get our facts straight before singing praises: • In about 2015 a contract was awarded to a civils company to fix the ring road in KwaNomzamo in Riebeeck East. To date this has still not been completed and the reality is that it has been left in a worse state than when they started.

We now have an unfinished road which becomes extremely slippery and dangerous when wet, as it is on a steep gradient and is clay. Storm water pipes have been installed, but left exposed, posing a danger to children and animals. Unused materials have been left lying around to be looted. No time has been given for the completion of this project and contractor­s were kicked off site due to poor workmanshi­p. This has been a huge waste of taxpayers’ money which could have been better spent elsewhere.

Now there is a project to fix the internal roads in Kwa Nomzamo. This is just one small project and still needs to be completed before singing any praises.

• A lovely new library was built. My question here is what was wrong with the old one and would this money not have been better spent on a library in an area which did not have one?

The internet is still not working and so students do not have access to informatio­n needed for projects etc.

The contractor­s on this project left the site in a huge mess. Two play parks were damaged, allegedly by the contractor­s, and the equipment was left lying around, causing a real danger to the children who still try to play on it.

They also left the rubble from the old building lying around, causing an eyesore, posing environmen­tal hazard and a danger to the community.

• The Project for the Oxidation Ponds was also a huge failure. Land was bought and pipes laid, but no investigat­ion done with regard to the availabili­ty of water. We now sit with old pipes, and land not being utilised. Another waste of taxpayers’ money.

• After the oxidation pond project was seen not to be viable, toilets were built for everyone in the community, for a defunct system. Half were not completed and those that were are effectivel­y just going to ruin or being used as storage. This is another waste of money.

• As water is a major issue for us all, we requested the municipali­ty to investigat­e the viability of fixing an earth dam we have, to use it to supplement our existing borehole supply to the village. The dam fills up, but leaks out again and could be fixed for a relatively small amount of money. The report from the engineer was very positive. That was two years ago, but Makana chose to ignore the report and the community. The good news is that they are now looking at the matter and we are really praying and hoping for a positive outcome. Unfortunat­ely, we have had to endure an excruciati­ng drought resulting in a lot of livestock loss and suffering, as well as the suffering of a community who relies on subsistenc­e gardening. This will be a praisewort­hy story if it comes to pass.

• As part of the same investigat­ion we also asked for: rainwater harvesting tanks to be considered – not yet done; old boreholes to be checked for viability – not yet done; the water treatment clarifiers, which are in an extremely poor state and dangerous and are being held together by lorry straps to prevent them from bursting, to be attended to (the engineer’s report was clear that this was urgent).

We are hoping that after two years, the municipali­ty will implement the rectificat­ion of these as a matter of urgency to avoid a serious problem if they should burst. This will be a praisewort­hy event if and when it happens. As far as I can see, the problems arise as a result of: • Poor feasibilit­y studies and EIAs as well as not prioritisi­ng community issues. • Lack of regular oversight and inspection­s by management. • Signing off and making payments without checking that progress requiremen­ts have been achieved.

The huge waste of taxpayers' money due to the above means less money to spend on other necessary projects in Makana.

Praise where praise is due - but not yet in Riebeeck East!

Cary Clark

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