Ethekwini Municipality reaches out to the public
MARCH is human rights month, and ethekwini Municipality educated the public about corruption, fraud, maladministration and human rights violations last week.
The City Integrity and Investigations Unit (CIIU) travelled to sites across ethekwini metro to teach people about their rights to service delivery, including how to report complaints at a provincial and local municipal level.
Mbuso Ngcobo, head of the CIIU, said: “The city decided to raise awareness of the CIIU and the numerous scams out there. We felt it was important to highlight the rights of our citizens when it comes to municipal issues.”
Sites visited included Isipingo, Pinetown, Umkomaas, Tongaat, Bridge City and Durban City. Ngcobo said locations for the roadshow were carefully selected to meet people who were often ignorant of their rights as they were the biggest victims of scams and did not know of their right to recourse.
Mbuso Nkosi, 43, from umlazi, said addressing the people was important as municipal offices were not accessible to some. ethekwini Municipality at Isipingo raising awareness about the rights of citizens.
“It’s good they tell us that RDP houses can’t be bought and how to report those who attempt such sales. Some people could be victims of fraudsters due to desperation.”
Kuhle Sibiya, 22, from Hammarsdale, said with youth unemployment so rife the roadshow was a chance for youth to learn to avoid scams. “Ward councillors call community meetings but mostly discuss challenges relating to service delivery in our areas. It’s rare that we speak of the responsibilities of the municipality and legitimate avenues to find employment with the municipality,” she said. Ngcobo said the programme was well received.
“We are pleased to have reached out to the public to make them aware. I hope that we have made a difference to people’s lives, as I’m sure that there are people out there who have experienced discrimination or human rights violations,” Ngcobo added.