MZINTI – Yet another service-delivery protest errupted in the subregion. On Monday June 23, disgruntled residents barricaded the D797 to Tonga with burning tyres and tree logs.
They demanded that the municipality start with the reconstruction of a flood-damaged bridge, electrification of households, and the free delivery of water. This was the third water-related protest this month.
Angry residents took to the streets as early as 01:00, barricading the road and turning away all vehicles.
At the time Corridor Gazette arrived on the scene, there was not a single police officer to monitor the situation. They only arrived nine hours after the strike had begun.
The MMC for infrastructure development in Nkomazi, Mr Million Shongwe, was the only official on site at the time the paper arrived.
One of the protest leaders said they had been promised electricity by the municipality for a long time, yet some people were still living in the dark and others risked being electrocuted when setting up illegal connections.
“We are crying about electricity. We have been asking for it since 2004 and they have been promising us that we will get it. It is now 10 years since and we face the same challenge. This doesn’t sit well with us, because eight cattle have already been lost as a result of the illegal electricity connections. These cables are not even covered. We are now still complaining over live stock, we don’t wish it to be our children. They can easily fall victim to the lurking danger,” he said.
Once more residents complained to officials about being sold water from the municipality’s own water trucks.
“We don’t have water, yet the municipality makes us buy from its trucks at R150. It installed pipes in our yards, but not a single drop of water has come from them. And when our children go to gather water at the nearby bridge, they are often turned away by the security guards. If you don’t have the money to buy from the truck, you won’t have water. Another challenge we are faced with is that of a damaged bridge. It is going to kill our children, it is an accident waiting to happen, and we have repeatedly asked the municipality to repair it. However, it simply poured soil on the bridge. We risk our lives daily,” said another strike leader.
Addressing them after hearing their grievances, Shongwe recounted how proceedings from previous community meetings attended by himself and an Eskom official had gone. He briefly explained the budget allocations made by government with regard to new electrical connections, and announced that electrification of the area will begin in July.
“There is money which government allocates to Eskom for new connections, and there is a certain amount which it allocates to municipalities for the same task. Fortunately Eskom has agreed to electrify this area. Those who recall when I last came with its engineers, they were to draw up designs. “Unfortunately, if all of you who are here lived in this area, we would not be having this problem today. I have even asked the councillor to request those members who have empty stands, to at least build a shack so that Eskom can provide them with electricity. When we were informed of the number of households in the area, they exceeded 200, but when Eskom arrived to confirm this, that was not the case. Designs are now being made for 123 houses, and in the event that a need for more arises, we will be able to accommodate it. A major delay in the commencement of the project has been the number of stands reported by the community and that recorded by the said service provider.”
Shongwe furthermore announced that the municipality had started with infrastructure upgrades for the Mzinti water-supply pipe, as the village has grown.
“We are now upgrading from a 200mm to a 315mm pipe. We have already started at the purification station. We are also in the process of increasing the water-pump capacity, because the Mzinti community has grown. This is what we are doing in the financial year of 2013/14.”
In conclusion Shongwe referred the issue of the damaged bridge to the Ehlanzeni District Municipality, saying the repairwork was its responsibility, and Mzinti was not the only community which had suffered a loss.
