Hundreds march on Kouga Municipality
ABOUT 500 residents from Jeffreys Bay and St Francis Bay took to the streets yesterday in protest against poor service delivery from the Kouga Municipality which they said was killing tourism, the backbone of the towns’ economy.
The residents converged on the municipal offices in Da Gama Road, waving placards saying “Why pay rates for no services” and “Tourism, businesses, residents are suffering”.
However, after receiving their list of grievances, mayor Booi Koerat said some of the issues raised were being led by affluent people who did not want to understand what was going on in the municipality.
“If everyone just pays their rates and their taxes we will be in the clear and able to deliver so much more,” Koerat said.
The march was convened by the St Francis Bay Residents’ Association (SFRA) and supported by members of the Jeffreys Bay Residents’ Association (JBRA).
The protesters sang and danced as they marched through the street, loudly voicing their unhappiness with the municipality.
“We are sick and tired of our rights being ignored. We demand proper service delivery and good governance,” they shouted.
Their list of grievances included the poor financial state of the Kouga Municipality, the poor condition of the roads in both towns, water quality, electricity outages, sewage spills and alleged maladministration and corruption.
When the protesters arrived at the municipal offices the gates were locked, preventing them from going inside.
They demanded to see Koerat, who had to excuse himself from a meeting with his provincial counterparts to accept their memorandum of grievances.
Upon receiving their grievances, Koerat undertook to respond within 14 days.
Speaking to the media afterwards, Koerat said the municipality was unable to do anything without money, adding that it was owed rates and taxes in excess of R100-million.
“If people are raising problems then those need to be addressed. I am prepared to make a full report available to relevant stakeholders within 14 days,” Koerat said.
He added that many of the problems they were dealing with, were inherited from the previous regime.
All the residents dispersed peacefully.