Ward 105 councillor Joyce Ngwenya has appealed to residents to exercise patience with government on some of the delays in promised service delivery.
Ngwenya said this after recent marches by residents of Ext 9 and Rasta Village to her house, and after meetings between council officials and residents to douse tensions. Residents are frustrated by her alleged failure to deliver on promised basic services like electricity, sanitation and drainage systems.
Ngwenya also said this following recent revelations in this paper’s No end in sight for housing saga, week ending 7 August, about tension in Ext 10 over council’s delay in resolving a housing allocation problem. This is in addition to previous articles by the paper on delays in allocating the Bothlabela Ext 2 flats in Eastbank that remain vacant two years after completion.
Ngwenya said that while it was their democratic right to air grievances, residents should understand that the government’s processes were sometimes slowed by planning, consultation and budgetary issues. “But it never reneges on its promises and, therefore, I request residents to exercise some patience,” she pleaded.
Ngwenya said as a councillor, her role was to convey concerns to council, follow up with council on decisions, provide feedback to residents and expect that projects and programmes for her ward get prioritised. This process, she said, depended on resource availability in council, which led to other housing developments which have been completed in her ward. “People should not overlook these developments when criticising government’s successes on service delivery.”
Ngwenya added that tension said to be brewing in her ward relating to housing, resulted from consultation processes between the MMC for Housing Dan Bovu and community leaders of the affected residents. “The MMC will soon convene a public meeting to inform residents on the consultation outcomes and also on developments on new housing developments planned for areas like Modderfontein.”
Meanwhile, she urged residents not to construct illegal structures next to roads and under power lines as it was dangerous. She said this was land invasion which also took away land reserved for other programmes like food gardens to ensure food security for the poor.
