ABERDEEN NEWS - On Tuesday 26 March, a meeting was held in the Thembalesizwe Community Hall to give feedback on issues raised by the community at the Public Hearing on 7 March about the 2017/18 annual report of the Municipal Public Account Committee.
The main focus of the Committee is the budget, and how municipal funds are spent, but as most of the questions raised at the previous meeting concerned service delivery and employment issues, the Municipal Manager agreed to bring the officials back to address the issues brought up by the community.
Ivor Berrington, Director of Engineering and Planning, was called upon in particular to respond to many questions from those present.
About 50 members of the community, mainly Thembalesizwe residents, attended the meeting, and although Aberdeen Area Manager Clive Kombani read out prepared answers to the questions posed by individuals at the previous meeting, it seemed that community members wanted to bring up many fresh issues.
Top of these issues was water, with the many leaks, erratic supply and brackish quality being mentioned by many. Many people also complained about problems with the meters. The condition of the roads, sewage problems and housing issues were also addressed.
Some of the residents present felt that problems occurring in town were dealt with more quickly and prioritised over problems in Lotusville and Thembalesizwe, but this was vehemently denied by Kombani, who explained that reported cases were dealt with on a first come, first served basis. Many problems were in fact caused by inaccurate reporting of problems, when the full address and nature of the problem was not given.
Ishmail Lawrence poses a question.
Many of the issues that were discussed were caused by a lack of available funds to repair infrastructure or to employ additional staff, and some of the other officials present were called upon to explain particular issues.
Concern was expressed that so few residents of ward 7, the town area, attended the meeting, as many of the issues raised were relevant to all areas of Aberdeen. There seemed to be an erroneous impression amongst town residents that the meeting was only for ward 1, despite notices that it was for the whole of Aberdeen.
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