R15m road upgrades for Mthatha’s oldest township welcomed

KING Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) municipal bosses have pumped nearly R15-million into sprucing up more internal roads in Mthatha’s oldest township of Ngangelizwe this year.

Last year, the municipality spent around R18-million on tarring four streets in the township.

Municipal spokesman Sonwabo Mampoza confirmed yesterday that a sum of R14.9-million from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant had been allocated towards upgrading three streets in the current financial year.

“Work started around April and we hope everything will be completed by December 2017,” he said.

“The only thing that may derail the timeframe is weather conditions.”

The state of the township, characterised by dilapidated and ageing infrastructure has been a bone of contention between its residents and city bosses for several years.

This seems to have jolted authorities into action especially in the past eights years, as millions of rands have since been invested into building modern infrastructure in Ngangelizwe.

The Dispatch reported that government had spent in the region of R22-million upgrading the Ngangelizwe Clinic into a 24hour health centre among other things in 2009 as part of an urban renewal programme.

In 2012, a new R11-million multipurpose community hall was built. This was part of the ongoing R5-billion presidential intervention programme launched by President Jacob Zuma in 2009 which is designed to resuscitate Mthatha’s ailing infrastructure.

Two years ago, city bosses spent around R8-million fixing broken street lights in Ngangelizwe.

Mampoza said; “The [KSD] council made a commitment to improve the lives of the people of this city. Thus, it felt it necessary to also focus on upgrading the roads.”

He said 24 job opportunities had been created for local people in the roads project.

“This is part of the municip long-term vision to ensure that roads in KSD are accessible.”

He said the township had a rich history and the upgrades would go a long way towards restoring it to its former image.

Nowandile Mathanda, 80, who has lived in the township for 30 years, said they were excited that their Mavuso Street was finally getting a much-needed facelift.

“We just hope they won’t come up with an excuse not to finish it like saying they have run out of funds. We have been waiting for this for too long,” she said

Booi Street resident Bongeka Mthamzeli said cars could not even come down her street on rainy days.

“We can’t wait to walk on a tar road,” she added. —