According to the City of Mbombela’s (CoM) municipal manager, Wiseman Khumalo, “The municipality is working tirelessly to revive the town to its former glory by ensuring that service delivery is done accordingly.”

He said the patching of potholes across all towns has started and would be addressed regionally. The rebuilding of broken storm-water drainage systems and repairing of faulty streetlights are also under way.

“It’s not going to be a one-day job; it will take time, but we will make sure we get to them all, and where a new one is needed, we will install it. The residents of the CoM need to understand that we have an issue of funds, and the little we have we had to share among all the services that need to be done per region, since they differ,” Khumalo said.

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He said the CoM welcomes Sanral’s maintenance on the ageing R40, as the road needed attention and the CoM did not have enough funds to repair it. He also welcomed the private lab results the residents of White River paid for out of their own pockets to ensure the town’s water is safe for consumption, and acknowledged that the water network system needs to be revamped. “The city’s mayor has indicated that she is in consultation with national and provincial governments to assist us with funds to reinstall new pipes in the area.”

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Khumalo said the municipality is also facing many instances of cable theft and is calling on all members of the public to come on board and help them protect infrastructure. He said cable theft is the reason why some traffic lights and streetlights are not working.

He said the municipality has to deal with internal staff to ensure they do not damage the vehicle fleet, as it costs the municipality lot of money to buy and repair them. “The leasing of vehicles will cost the municipality a lot of money, and we will end up without any cars.”

He said the challenges they are facing with the vehicles include parts that are stolen or exchanged, and the unnecessary use of fuel.

“TLBs and excavators are a challenge, because they are also broken because some of the staff use them wrongly. We are then forced to lease them, and it’s money we don’t have,” he said.
Khumalo also said: “The municipality is always open to listening to the people we are serving; that is why we have a line of communication via email or phone call.”