Vryheid Central Ward councillors report back

WARDS 8 and 9 constitute the “engine room” of AbaQulusi Municipality as they include the CBD and most of Vryheid. The Wards are held by Democratic Alliance councillors Bennie Hancke and Harry Heyns, who called a feedback meeting for Wards 8 & 9 residents on Thursday evening last week in the Library Hall.

After the meeting, the councillors said in a statement: “We wish to thank all the residents who turned up for the feedback meeting. We counted about 40 people which shows us that the number of people who care about what is happening in our town is increasing.

“We realize that there are a lot of rumours going round regarding the state of affairs at AbaQulusi Local Municipality, with questions on why the municipal workers are striking, why we don’t have a Municipal Manager yet, what is happening at the Paddadam and when will the rebuilding of Mark Street commence.

“These were all questions that we were able to answer at the meeting. We have these meetings every three months, so please check the newspaper and facebook regularly for information regarding the next one.”

The meeting was also attended by a number of municipal officials, who were able to assist in answering a number of questions that came from the floor. It had been emphasised by Cllr Heyns at the start of the meeting that it was not a political meeting, politics, he said, being responsible for “sinking our town”. Instead he said, “We are here in the interests of our town.”

Questions answered included the following:

The High Street bridge

This R12-million project nearing completion has been stalled by the need to replace old asbestos water pipes with PVC pipes. The pipes are located on the northern side of the bridge under what will be the north off-ramp from the bridge leading to Hird and High streets.

The South Street bridge

This crumbling bridge crosses the Dorpspruit between Mason and van Riebeeck streets. The delay has been as a result of the road being considered a provincial road, although it has been ascertained that the municipality is responsible for its maintenance at this point. Work on the bridge has commenced.

Date for the payment of accounts

This matter occupied some time. The matter arose as a result of civil servants being paid on the 15th of the month, while municipal accounts were only received at the end of the month, giving consumers until the 9th of the following month to settle the account. It would appear (although it was not specifically stated) that the request was for the settlement date to be further extended from the 9th to the 16th, to allow civil servants (presumably unable to budget their household expenditure) to pay their municipal accounts at the time they received their salaries. Cllr Heyns said that the settlement date was “rigorously implemented to curb corruption”, that it was enforced by law and that by law a penalty for late payment had to be levied. He said that already, under the present system, consumers were getting 30 days to settle their accounts, and to extend it to what would in effect be 45 days would interfere with the municipality’s ability to settle its own accounts, specifically with Eskom. The conclusion seemed to be that the municipality would be unlikely to change the settlement date, although Cllr Heyns said that they’d look into it.

The Protection Services

Cllr Heyns said that the two municipal fire engines were started every week and driven “round the block” to ensure their readiness. He said that his information was that there had been a “great improvement” in the response time by the fire department. He admitted that there were a lot of vacancies in the traffic department, adding that as soon as the municipality trained an officer it seemed that he accepted a position in another municipality.

The water situation

Cllr Heyns said that currently the water situation “is OK”. He said that the Zululand District Municipality (ZDM) was upgrading the sewerage treatment plant, and that the Klipfontein purification plant’s capacity was being increased.

Road repairs and potholes

The municipality it was said is appointing a contractor to attend to the town’s potholes. Utrecht Street (from Cashbuild through the CBD) was to be rebuilt this financial year, and that work will proceed after consultation with affected businesses. Work on the section of Utrecht Street in the CBD will probably only commence after Christmas.

Parking meters

Businesses in the CBD are apparently complaining that parking spaces are being occupied all day by the vehicles of people working in the CBD. Cllr Heyns said that the company with which the municipality had an agreement in the management of the previous parking meters, had not paid the municipality one cent, although the agreement was that it should pay R55,000 or 10% of the revenue every month. He said that there was a case opened by the municipality in this matter.

The Post Office parking

“It remains a nightmare,” admitted Cllr Heyns. He said that controlled access to this parking area in Mark Street was coming.

The Municipal Manager

There is still only an acting Municipal Manager, the case involving Dr Mthembu not having been resolved. Further, the municipality is still subject to the administration of the Ministerial Representative who has to ratify all council decisions, and whose term in AbaQulusi had been extended by the MEC until March next year.

The Paddadam project

Cllr Hancke said, “We don’t want to lose momentum in this project”. The project had received generous donations of diesel to operate heavy earth-moving machinery, but now such machines were needed.