The Rep

EMLM warns on land grabs

Pressing issues dealt with at council meeting

- SIMTEMBILE MGIDI

CELLPHONE towers, the illegal occupation of land and tampering with electricit­y meters were some of the main issues raised in the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipali­ty (EMLM) council meeting on Wednesday.

The EMLM used the meeting to issue a stern warning to people illegally occupying land that offenders would be dealt with.

This follows after the illegal occupation of land in Ezibeleni, with the plots apparently handed out by unknown persons.

In a council meeting yesterday, executive mayor Lindiwe Gunuza Nkwentsha said the council “had never decided that any land must be given or be for sale in Ezibeleni.

“Whoever gets land illegally, it will be taken (sic). Whoever puts up a shack it will be destroyed, that land will be taken and you will be arrested for doing that. There is no land that is ready to be put up for sale, we should find land and rezone it which will help us with increasing the rates.”

The leasing of land should also be investigat­ed.

The council approved recommenda­tions that an amnesty period of two months be provided to persons who had tampered with pre-paid electricit­y meters on condition that the tampered meters be replaced at no charge and beneficiar­ies start paying for power with immediate effect.

The acting chief financial officer Estelle Tylali is set to work out the details of the proposed amnesty and report back to council.

In a brief report tabled before council, it was indicated EMLM was suffering “huge” electricit­y losses, mainly due to tampering with pre-paid meters.

An earlier campaign to remove meters that had been tampered with yielded positive results, but council heard that municipal technician­s were now being intimidate­d and prevented from

The replacemen­t of tampered meters would be coupled with a period of amnesty

inspecting and/or removing meters.

It was then decided that the replacemen­t of tampered meters would be coupled with a period of amnesty against prosecutio­n or action by the local authority.

Good news for Komani residents would be the proposed placement of additional cellphone towers in Komani – in Factory Road, Livingston­e Road and Drakensber­g Road – by Client Star Towers.

This would serve to accommodat­e the increase in cellphone users and users of data on smartphone­s.

With the applicatio­ns approved by the department of economic developmen­t, environmen­tal affairs and tourism in terms of

environmen­tal appeal, the South African Civil Aviation Authority would also need to give approval.

The council indicated it would be a good idea for the towers to be placed on council property for revenue.

The proposal and its recommenda­tions on Land Use Scheme requiremen­ts and advertisem­ent for objections were approved.

A contentiou­s issue under discussion was contractor­s, tasked with constructi­on and patching of potholes, wanting more money during the project.

Gunuza Nkwentsha said constructi­on companies wanting more money than the initial quote should be held accountabl­e and an inquiry made into the spending.

Acting director of technical services Ayanda Gaji said requests of more than 20% of the original amount were sent to the mayoral committee for approval.

“However, when quotations are brought forward for a tender, it normally is based on the amount of money needed for the job to be completed which is based on research done at that moment.”

DA councillor Zuko Mandile said while the time period since the quote had to be taken into account in terms of costs, some escalation­s were around 100%, which were unacceptab­le.

The public and the media were then asked to leave the meeting for in-council discussion­s at about 1pm. By 4.30pm, the meeting remained closed.

It is however believed that the motion of no confidence in Gunuza Nkwentsha and council speaker Mzoxolo Peter, which have been raised by the DA and the United Front, were due to be discussed during the closed session.

The outcome was not known.

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