Residents in a small coastal town along the Dolphin Coast have had to take matters into their own hands and even barricaded some access roads to try and curb a surge of uncontrolled by-law offences on their beachfront.

The embattled Tugela Mouth community sees the same issues of public drinking, noise into the early hours and littering every festive season and nothing has changed this year.

Reports by the North Coast Courier in 2021 and 2022 cover much the same ground.

This despite the community winning two court orders against the Mandeni municipality in that time, compelling it to properly enforce by-laws in the area.

“Yet another year has come, and yet again we have been let down by the Mandeni municipality and Mandeni SAPS,” said the Tugela Mouth Ratepayers Association (TMRPA).

“Our village is under siege and the municipality seems to be deliberately withholding services.”

As part of the court order in December last year, private security can be hired by residents if deemed necessary, at the municipality’s expense.

Security has been hired pre-emptively as no written confirmation of municipal roadblocks had been received by the TMRPA.

And although the court order allows the TMRPA to claim back the costs of the security, they must foot the initial bill.

Elsewhere, residents have erected a makeshift barricade at one of two Tugela Mouth entrances to better control the traffic flow.

A boom gate at the main entrance, also written into the court order, has not materialised.

The TMRPA says there has been an increase in crime in the area this year, which has led to almost two-thirds of homes being put up for sale.

“There seems to be a political or financial process to encourage residents to sell simply by making the residential environment undesirable,” said the association.

“The TMRPA do not have the financial resources, or the political backing to fight this indefinitely. Every time court orders are issued the municipality simply ignores them and the only way to progress is to go back to court which will cost hundreds of thousands of rands.”

Until then, residents brace for the height of the festive season over the next few weeks.

The TMRPA again emphasised that they do not wish to restrict access to the community and that everyone is welcome, so long as they adhere to the by-laws.

Neither the municipality nor Mandeni SAPS responded to a request for comment.