Clr Lindani Zulu, ward 65, responded to concerns about the sluice on Main Reef Road in Denver following the death of a boy last year.
Six-year-old Nkosimphile Dlamini died after he was playing with his friends and their ball fell into the sluice.
The EXPRESS previously reported that residents of the area believe the boy may have been electrocuted due to an illegal connection while he was trying to retrieve the ball.
They expressed concerns about illegal connections and the sluice not being cleaned.
“The Gambian Waterway, (sluice) was cleaned a few months back which in itself was a contentious issue as Clr Lindani Zulu of ward 65 was erroneously tasked with sourcing labour. The waterway does not fall within his ward so the labour allocation was unfairly given to people who do not live in ward 118. This situation is to be avoided this time,” Clr Neuren Pietersen, ward 118, previously told the EXPRESS.
“I hired people from ward 118 after I was approached by City Parks about the sluice project,” Zulu has since commented.
“They told me that it was a project for my ward. I told them that it will cause problems. Although the river starts in my ward it goes [flows] to ward 118,” he said.
“The hiring process was fair. I hired about 19 people from Denver informal settlement and I have a list of them. Clr Pietersen went to City Parks for explanation and they explained everything to him,” he said.
In response to concerns about illegal connections, City Power spokesperson Sol Masolo said a team from City Power that works with illegal connections visited the area on October 13 for assessment.
