Mayor tries to appease residents

Threat of rates boycott after violent protests

ETHEKWINI mayor Mxolisi Kaunda pleaded with Reservoir Hills ratepayers not to embark on a rates boycott, as it would have a ripple effect on services in the city.

Kaunda met community leaders on Thursday evening, following violent service delivery protests, allegedly by residents from the Quarry Road informal settlement. Last Monday, two cars and a bus were set alight. Several cars were damaged by stones thrown and shops were looted on Mountbatten Drive. The protest followed the disconnection and removal of illegal electricity connections a few days before.

Reservoir Hills Community Policing Forum chairperson Pravin Gounder said they wanted to strategise a positive way forward in dealing with the pertinent issues that have plagued the community for years.

“The exponential unabated growth of informal settlements in our community has become a cesspool of unhygienic and dehumanising conditions, with a hideout for criminal activity. Illegal electrical connections run across the roads. Pilfering of electricity leads to dysfunctional traffic lights, making it a hotspot for smash- and- grabs, hijackings and muggings,” Gounder said.

“The ratepaying community have waited far too long for conditions to be addressed, so that we too can live in safety and security,” he added.

Kaunda empathised with the community and said the city had upgraded a number of different informal settlements.

“We have completed the second phase of Cornubia housing project. Amaoti is the oldest informal settlement in Durban. These settlements in Reservoir Hills are still new. There are a few pockets of areas where housing projects have been initiated. There is no area in this city where there is no planned development. The only question that arises is the availability of resources to address all the informal settlements,” he said.

Kaunda said there were 580 informal settlements and, at his next meeting with residents, he would discuss the city’s plans and timelines.

Reservoir Hills Ratepayers Association chairperson Ish Prahladh hoped the meeting with all stakeholders, including those from the informal settlement, would be a fruitful one.

“The residents felt this was not enough and are intending embarking on a rates boycott,” Prahladh said.

Reservoir Hills community activist Ray Jeawon told Kaunda the the public required possible solutions. “If the community is not satisfied, we will embark on a rates boycott,” he said.