Formal and informal residents of Ward 25 gathered on Friday morning, 22 April, and marched from Randles Road to the Durban City Hall to address the common issues and challenges they have with their ward councillor, Themba Mkhize.
Just last week, the residents of Ward 25 were outraged following Mkhize’s response to one of the residents when he had asked Mkhize to assist flood victims in the area. Despite the fact that Mkhize apologised for swearing at the resident, his community said enough was enough and resorted to the placard demonstration to the Speaker’s office, demanding that Mkhize is removed as ward councillor. A leader from the informal community, who chose not to be named for fear of intimidation by the councillor, said the joint movement by both the formal and informal residents was to show that the issues with the councillor are not racial, however, these issues portray his true identity and arrogance towards other people. “We got together as the community of Ward 25 after we came to realise that the councillor is treating all of us in the same way, no matter if you are Black or Indian. Service delivery is an issue in both the formal living spaces and the informal. Our councillor has no interest in us as the voters, the only people he cares about are his friends and family, those who are close to him,” said the resident.
Prem Ganasparsadh, a community activist and resident of Springtown who was part of the demonstration, said the reason he supports the notion of removing Cllr Mkhize as Ward 25 Councillor is because he has witnessed his arrogance towards service delivery in the ward. “This dates back to before the floods. The Councillor is never with the people. He does not attend meetings and has no interest in serving the people, therefore having him removed is what we as the residents of Ward 25, formal and informal, want,” said Ganasparsadh. He said that after the memorandum was handed over to the eThewkini Speaker, the residents were requested to wait two weeks for the Speaker to respond to grievances listed in the memorandum. Fathima van Rensburg, secretary of Clare Estate Ratepayers’ Association and Community Policing Forum, said: “They were overwhelmed by the fact that both the formal and informal residents were in unity, rallying together. Since the Friday (22 April), we have not heard from the Speaker’s office, however, we are hoping that the decision they will take will work in favour of the residents of Ward 25. We hope that when they re-elect a councillor, they appoint someone who will work with the people.”
