Press Statement by Irene Brussow: Democratic Alliance Caucus Leader in Mkhondo Local Municipality
DA in Mkhondo calls on MMC of Technical Services to address poor response times
Some residents have reported average waiting times that is close to 7 days
DA calls on MMC and MM to procure more vehicles for ground teams
The DA in Mkhondo has written to the MMC of Technical Services, Mary Twala, calling on her to address the poor response times to critical service delivery failures, especially failures that is contributing to environmental degradation.
In recent times, the municipality has been plagued by sewage spills which are caused by old and dilapidated infrastructure, frequent pipe bursts and blocked drains which has had detrimental consequences on our freshwater ecosystems across the municipality.
Just last year, faulty sewer infrastructure contributed to loss of hundreds of fish at the Waterside Lodge Dam which is located on the N2 on Pongola Road. However, despite it being reported many times, this sewage spill remains unfixed till today. Recently there have been similar reports of fish dying at the Grotto Dam, yet again because of sewage pollution.
Recognising the severity of the above, the DA conducted oversights across Piet Retief and surrounding areas, and we gained first hand insight into how the Technical Service Department is failing to attend to persistent sewer spillages and service delivery complaints timeously. Especially since some residents have reported that they are forced to wait up to seven days for the municipality to address their service delivery complaints.
After a thorough investigation into these delays, we uncovered a shocking reality: the municipality’s Technical Service Department has only one functional vehicle at its disposal to attend to every single water and sanitation complaint across the municipality. To keep serving the community, some dedicated technicians are even being forced to use their own private vehicles to get to sites.
The DA will not relent; we will ensure that our ground teams are urgently equipped with proper materials and that they have a reliable fleet of functional vehicles to perform their basic duties.
The DA remains the only party committed to ensuring proper, dignified service delivery for the people of Mkhondo.