Hundreds of disgruntled Chatsworth residents gathered at the Fleet Street Grounds in Westcliff to air their grievances regarding alleged shoddy services meted out by the Municipality to loyal ratepayers.
Ward 70 Democratic Alliance Councillor, Tony Govender, facilitated the mass meeting which was called for by residents from his ward on Saturday, 19 February. The meeting attracted about 500 residents.
Cllr Govender said: “The meeting culminated from a prior residents’ meeting which was held on 14 February, whereby residents were aggrieved and frustrated with the services meted out by the Municipality to the loyal ratepayers. The myriad of issues are non-delivery of refuse bags, illegal dumping which takes DSW weeks to clear, electricity outages, defective street-lighting, theft of electricity from sub-stations situated on business premises and near homes of formal residents, overgrown bushes, grass, trees and verges, grass not cut for several months at the rental stock housing in Westcliff and Bayview, and the lack of maintenance to these flats thereof, almost daily burst pipes, insufficient water tankers, same burst pipes being repaired more than once, insufficient backfill, long delay in uplifting spoils leaving the area in a mess, long delay in reinstating the repaired burst pipe area, overflowing sewage in our rivers and at the same home addresses without a permanent solution to them.
“Other issues include, the many potholes leaving motorists with huge tyre repair costs and not being compensated by the Municipality, insufficient crusher and insufficient reinstatement material, dysfunctional call centre and officials not responding timeously through communication channels.”
Cllr Govender said whilst he and his colleagues empathise with the residents regarding the shoddy service delivery, they however distance themselves from the call of a rates boycott which was mentioned by residents, but they will continue to persevere in getting service delivery improved to all the communities to better their lives.
The list of issues was echoed by councillors Anoop Rampersad, Fatima Ismail, Ronnie Pillay, Ganas Govender, Samantha Windvogel and Councillor Welekazi.
Resident, Pradeep Singh, was instrumental in pushing for the meeting. He said that this meeting has been long-awaited. Vice-president of the Chatsworth and Districts Civic Federation, Mohamed Mubarak, was the guest speaker with Chatsworth Constituency Political Head and member of parliament, Hon Mergen Chetty, being present.
Mubarak addressed the community and said that the Chatsworth and Districts Civic Federation has full support from majority of the civic organisations from central to Phoenix, Isipingo, Reservoir Hills, Clare Estate, Merebank, Motala Heights, Kloof, Hillcrest, Nagina, Savana Park, Wentworth, Bluff and Malvern since majority of the residents have reached their tether.
Residents aired their grievances at the meeting and a report will be sent to eThekwini Municipality in order to provide solutions.
