Residents tired of waiting

Residents of Ward 3 in Wesselton, Ermelo quietly gathered at the Msukaligwa Civic Centre last Friday where they demanded to speak to the officials about what they say is an altered list of people supposed to benefit from the residential area at Extension 5.

According to member of the ward committee, Mr Bheki Malinga, the area was recently approved for human settlement and they were promised that they would be moved or benefit from the 99 vacant stands and were requested to submit a list of people to benefit.

In a twist of events, members of the Ward 3 community gathered at the municipal building after rumours started making the rounds that their

Proportional Representative (PR) councillor, Ms Thandaza Msimang, had submitted a different list from the original one.

Upon arrival at the municipal building, the PR councillor was called in and denied submitting an altered list. Unfortunately, the ward councillor could not join the meeting due to personal commitments.

According to Mr Malinga, they are also angry because they were overlooked when Khayelihle Section was established and now they are also likely to miss out on this opportunity at Ext 5, something they will not allow to happen.

Speaking to the newspaper last Friday, the residents threatened that if this matter was not resolved amicably, they would do whatever it took, including boycotting the local government elections next year.

According to the Municipal Human Settlement Section, the engagements with Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) P. Nkosi, ward councillor,

PR councillor and the ward committee, resolved that stands must be allocated to the people who have been staying there before the process of formalising the area starts. The section has data of those 70 people to be placed first.

The municipality further stated that there are 99 stands available at Extension 5 and the concerned people from ward 3 and eMadamini are more than 200 house holds which means the sites are not enough.

Only 29 sites will be available to people living in the two informal settlements.

A list of 33 elderly people, disabled people and orphans was submitted to the Human Settlement Section by the ward and the PR councillor. These names will be added to the 70 people already on site.

The municipality also said they did not have information about who came first or last, but both sets are illegally occupying municipal land whether suitable for human settlement or not. The municipality has an obligation to provide land to all.

Regarding allegations of favouritism, the municipality said people must come forward with information for the necessary investigations to take place.

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