Residents block road

BUCANANA residents staged another protest on Tuesday demanding water, electricity, RDP houses, completion of the P700 main road and the repair of internal roads and local bridges damaged by heavy rains last year.

The angry group blocked the P700 with stones, rocks and logs, bringing traffic to a virtual standstill, especially affecting buses and taxis.

Schools were badly affected as teachers could not drive through.

The community feels neglected by the City of uMhlathuze, since their incorporation into the municipality in 2016.

Resident, Sam Dludla lambasted the city for failing to keep its promises.

‘On 28 January, we had a meeting with the mayor and his executives at a sports field. He was here to respond to our initial grievances, but nothing has changed since then.

‘This is a clear indication that he came here just to calm us down. Water is life we can’t live without water. We want RDP houses now not next year. Mhlongo is aware that some houses don’t have electricity, but keeps on giving us empty promises,’ he said.

Dladla vowed to continue the fight until the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Leaders (Cogta) Sipho Hlomuka and MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison Bheki Ntuli come to address them, because Mhlongo has failed.

‘We warned mayor Mhlongo that if he fails to address our demands, we will resume and intensify our protest,’ Dludla said.

City of uMhlathuze Chief Marketing Officer, Percy Thusini, confirmed that since the mayor met with the Ward 33 community on 5 February to address grievances, nothing has been done on the issues pertaining to housing, roads, water and electricity.

During that meeting Cllr Mhlongo stated that the housing project for the area was approved by the national office, as early as 2016 and that 1 500 houses would be constructed in Luwamba.

‘At that time the Department of Human Settlement had agreed on it in principle but no feasibility study or budget was in place then.

‘It was only in 2019 that the department allocated a budget and made it available to the local council (uMhlathuze) to implement the housing project on the ground,’ he said.

Thusini said during the meeting, Mhlongo had explained that a Project Steering Committee (PSC) to oversee the implementation of the project, comprising of community stakeholders, was a necessity and that this committee should have been established before the end of this month.

‘A meeting has already been scheduled for Thursday (20 February) for the establishment of the PSC. Furthermore, the implementing agent has been chosen for this project,’ he said.

He added that the water schemes that were abandoned due to drought and persistent vandalism on infrastructure have been revived and water tampering has been reawakened.

‘For now the Mancence/ Crocodile river water scheme is up and running, with boreholes pumping water as required.

Water from the boreholes is reticulated to the small package water station for cleaning and then pumped into the local reservoir and finally to community taps.

‘There is also ongoing surveying of the area to locate areas with enough ground water for boreholing, to increase water stocks in the area.

‘Ward 33 has been allocated four water tankers to assist the community. It is worth mentioning that council is engaged in a project that aims to address water shortages in Wards 31, 32 and 33 through the construction of a reservoir.

‘Regarding road P700, the mayor explained that this road is the responsibility of the Provincial Department of Transport. Council has engaged the regional office of DoT regarding grievances on road P700.

‘The regional office has escalated the problem to their head office and the local council has a lesser role in the matter. Other secondary roads are being graded and gravelled periodically as gravelling needs management from time to time.

‘The mayor further explained to the community that Ward 33 electricity is not supplied by uMhlathuze, but directly by Eskom,’ he said.