Weather 6°C

Hanli Buber, chairperson of Steytlerville Residents' Forum:

Dear Mayor Safers, Dr Rankwana and the municipal delegation who attended the public meeting in Steytlerville yesterday... [The letter was written on 3 February and the meeting took place on 2 February. Editor]

Firstly, thank you for your token outreach to Steytlerville. We appreciate your willingness to come and listen to the frustrations and problems of your (furthest) constituents.

To be a resident in Steytlerville and dealing with the Dr Beyers Naude Municipality, is almost like trying to grab one of those fluffy toys in the glass boxes with the metal claw. The toy stays teasingly just outside of reach. We write letters to you, we call you, we submit reports, but our cries fall on deaf ears, and we get no response! The lack of response from the municipality is extremely disrespectful, to say the least. We need our queries answered. We do not care to read the self-congratulatory "newsletter" that is distributed by the mayor's office. The municipal district that these newsletter reference must be somewhere in the Western Cape where things actually work, because the claims that the mayor makes in his newsletters do not hold true for the BNLM constituents and is certainly not the truth that we experience on the ground! Perhaps a good start would be for you to share an invitation to your 'Rapid Response' WhatsApp group?

The cause of this conflict between the municipality and the people lies much deeper than a "communication gap" as you blithely referred to it in your meeting response, Mayor. I believe that the cause is a fundamentally flawed centralised system which was manipulated into being by the ruling party's greed and political avarice. The powers wanted more power. Now you have that power. But it comes with much more responsibility. As Mr Eggink stated in his email to your office, I paraphrase:

• The centralised municipal model which you pushed down our throats clearly does not work. A municipality should be local in its management and operations.
•  The disconnect between Graaff Reinet and Steytlerville (and all the other towns/districts) cannot be fixed by some local (powerless) structure submitting monthly reports to a central council.

(Hanli Buber is the Chair of the Steytlerville Residents' Forum, as well as the Beyers Naude Residents and Ratepayers' Action Group, and a ward representative. 

The standing matters that we raised in the meeting and would still like the municipality to attend to urgently include the following:

• Water supply and water infrastructure maintenance

We do not agree with the Municipality’s opinion that Steytlerville’s water problems are mainly due to the drought. That is one factor, but we will no longer tolerate the municipality’s glib and automatic excuse for poor service delivery “because of the drought” The water situation is extremely dire and it is in part a direct result of negligent maintenance of a multi-million rand water infrastructure system. We want to see a plan on how Erasmuskloof will be fixed, a deadline by when and a maintenance and management strategy with a clear indication of resources and time frames as a matter of urgency.
The millions and millions of rands being requested to upgrade water infrastructure (boreholes etc) which will result in more infrastructure for the municipality to mismanage, would be better applied by making sure that EVERY household has a Jojo tank so that every person in Steytlerville at least has access to some water at all times, which is a basic human right!

• Water Awareness

Also, seeing as drought is such a top worry for the BN municipality, what are you planning to do to create awareness around water saving amongst residents and visitors to Steytlerville and the other towns that you are supposed to care about?
There is no water testing downstream, so how is the municipality going to create awareness about water purification (boiling?)

• Litter and Dumping

Cleaning of streets and verges. Litter is being dumped illegally all along the Groot River, in all the back streets of town, in the townships on street corners, and over the sides of the bridge over the Groot River. This needs to be attended to urgently, seeing as it is a public health and an environmental threat. We ask this month, after month, after month with no response and no improvement. When will the municipality start cleaning up and enforce the municipal bylaws to do with illegal dumping?

• Dump site and recycling

The upgrade is an improvement, but the dump is still not being properly managed. Litter is being dumped next to the roads, instead of the dump being filled from the back to the front. Litter is constantly blowing across the road, on to sensitive environmental veld areas and farms surrounding the dump. It is aesthetically unappealing in terms of attracting tourism, as well as a threat to endangered wildlife and farm animals in our area. The expensive infrastructure built for ‘recycling’ is not being optimised. The Steytlerville residents are not being made aware of recycling (what can be recycled and what cannot)

• ESKOM
  The municipality is not acting in the best interest of the constituents with regard to their non-payment of a court-ordered amount to ESKOM. This should be paid, regardless of whether the municipality is of the opinion that they are in a “dispute” situation with ESKOM over line rental fees due. As is the case when ratepayers are in a dispute over their accounts, the municipality’s response is standard: Pay up and talk later. The same applies to this municipality: Pay up!
• IDP
  The IDP consultation process has not been very open and transparent, nor has there been enough public participation. The last ‘rolling over’ of the previous five-year IDP has been HIGHLY IRREGULAR, to say the least. The residents of Steytlerville are waiting for their turn to contribute to the plan.
• Housing Issues
  • Unfinished houses in Steytlerville (contractor was dismissed in another area, so work remains incomplete)
  • There are RDP houses without toilets in Steytlerville
  • There is a man with an electrical pole in his yard which is threatening his safety (if it splits completely and falls over)
  • Abandoned houses being vandalised and used for illegal activities (municipality must apply bylaws)
  • Residents need help with their title deeds (help and feedback please)
  • People who have been promised RDP houses and have been on the list for a long time are being bypassed for more recent requests
  • People who have already got houses are getting more houses
  • ‘Indigent’ properties are being run illegally as businesses and not rezoning or paying business rates and taxes
• Municipal infrastructure (lack of maintenance)
  • Municipal buildings are falling apart and are not being maintained (town hall, municipal offices, abandoned properties, library)
• Youth Services
  • No sport facilities (fields are not being maintained)
  • No computer centre (where are the computers that used to belong to the youth centre? Why is there no computer centre?)
• Municipal Bylaws are not being enforced
  • Stray animals
  • ‘Clean yards’
• Municipal Accounts
  • Not being received
• Chain of Command/Unfair Distribution of Resources
  • Municipal workers in Steytlerville do not have the resources that they need (tools and money) to do their jobs
  • Also, municipal workers are being approved to do non-essential maintenance work over weekends (to get overtime pay!?)
  • Our own septic truck stands while we bring in another septic truck from far away at a great expense
  • We do not have our own machinery to resolve local problems timeously (grader, cherry-picker for example)
  • We want LOCAL jurisdiction, competency and accountability
  • The right people, with the right resources, must be appointed in Steytlerville and be empowered to solve our local service delivery problems locally
• Local (municipal) roads are not being maintained
  • Potholes are not being repaired
  • Very large holes (caused by and filled by stormwater) are posing health (mosquitoes) and drowning hazards in the township
• Unsafe intersection
  • The Willowmore entrance needs to be better signposted, with speed humps “End of Provincial Road. Four-way STOP Ahead!” because people driving into town do not know that the road ends and that they are heading for an intersection that is very busy with people crossing all day long.
• Meeting protocol
  • Please give the community at least one week’s notice of a meeting date? It is arrogant and disrespectful to expect people to show up for a meeting with only 48 hours’ notice.
  • Please consider the timing of public meetings (not during the SASSA payments week)
  • Also, the meeting venue should be considered (closer to the most residents)

Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

But at least we have started the conversation.

Looking forward to your next visit about ESKOM.

Regards

Hanli Buber