GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - The mayor of the Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality, Deon de Vos, had to field some tough questions and complaints from residents of Horseshoe, Wolwas, Adendorp and Umasizakhe during his outreach meeting last week.
The Adendorp community expressed its disappointment that scheduled work on their water supply has not been carried out, and that no provision for water upgrades has been made in the 2019-2020 budget.
De Vos asked Bennie Arends, acting Community Services Director, to ensure that the scheduled work be carried out. Another problem in the town is that the road through Adendorp is severely damaged by municipal trucks taking refuse to the landfill site. The municipality could not come up with a plan to renew these roads.
The mayor stated that a presentation showing the financial state of the municipality was given to visiting ministers from Cogta and Public Works in the hope of securing financial aid. He told residents that Dr Zweli Mkhize, minister of Cogta, said that no cash injection would be forthcoming from his department, but that it was possible for the municipality to get other government grants, and that this avenue should be explored. This could help with infrastructure challenges.
Dr Mkhize proposed that staff numbers be reduced, and the mayor agreed, saying that the huge salary bill – 50% of the budget – is not sustainable. When asked what role the unions would play in reducing the number of employees, the mayor admitted that this could not be done without the unions’ input.
Concerns about the poor performance of municipal law enforcement were also aired.
"The public is tired of excuses," said one irate resident. "The municipality should admit if it does not have the capacity to do the work and accept help which has been offered, but up till now ignored." The mayor admitted that in every area where he held meetings during April, people complained that municipal officials do not respond to the public.
Asked when the waste transfer station would be reopened, Arends said that the work was given to a contractor, N1 Construction. Only half of the pile of refuse has been removed and the municipal funds available are depleted. Thus he was unable to say when the work would be done. Most people are reluctant to drive to the landfill site because of the terrible state of the road, and many are just dumping refuse wherever they find a secluded spot. Only three workers are apparently allocated to refuse management; they work either at the transfer station or landfill site, and no supervision or working security is in place at the landfill. The bulldozer there has been stripped and the electrical installations stolen or destroyed. According to Arends, the municipality has no back-up bulldozer.
One resident promoted the value of recycling as a way to reduce the amount of waste, saying he had reduced his refuse by three quarters by recycling, and this attracted a lot of interest.
At the Ward 6 mayoral outreach at Thembalesizwe School complaints voiced in 2018 were reviewed. These included potholes and the effect of dust from these roads on residents. In the Adjusted 2018-19 Budget the amount of R3 799 112 originally budgeted for the upgrading of roads and storm water drainage in Graaff-Reinet was cut to just R42 465, not much more than 1% of the original figure, so the likelihood of these problems being addressed is slim indeed.
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