The race is on to the finish with just a few days left to go till voters head to the polls to elect their preferred ward councillors, with service delivery lurking in the back of the minds.
Ahead of voting day on 1 November, and to appeal to the undecided eligible voters, the Ugu District Mayor, Councillor Sizwe Ngcobo, and Umdoni Mayor, Councillor Sibongile Khathi, held an Imbizo in Dumisa to address the concerns of residents under the municipality. With the lack of water, electricity, employment and housing being among the top concerns that residents got to voice to their leaders.
Stan Duma from Ward 5 said: “The water goes past our homes from the reservoir and you hear of areas like Bramer having water. We are pleading with you that when they turn the water on to also consider us. We are also pleading for water tankers in every home and not just selected ones, we are all voters at the end of the day.”
Cllr Ngcobo said the much-needed upgrades to the water infrastructure are being hampered by residents, employed and unemployed, refusing to pay for municipal services.
“People are not paying for water which affects the budget and maintenance of the water infrastructure. We have a plan to garnish those who are refusing to pay. There are municipal workers who are not paying for water services. If you can pull water to come to your house then you can pay for water, stop being greedy. You have to pay so that we can do the repairs.”
His sentiments were shared by Umdoni Mayor, Cllr Khathi, who said funds were needed in order to undertake the necessary upgrades. She said a lot has been done to ensure that services have been rendered to number of areas, however, lamenting that more still needed to be done.
“There are areas where the water has not reached but we have managed to get other services to the community. We have installed electricity, water and sanitation in a number of areas. As well as created jobs, despite the losses compounded by the pandemic,” Cllr Khathi said.
The feedback Imbizo was held on Tuesday for wards 4, 5 and 6 under the Umdoni Municipality.
