DA feedback meeting throws some light

VRYHEID, the town, is the engine room of AbaQulusi Municipality, and is comprised of two municipal wards – Wards 8 and 9. Last week Thursday, the councillors for those wards, Harry Heyns and Bennie Hancke, both of the Democratic Alliance (DA), held a feedback meeting for the residents of their wards, in the Vryheid Library Hall. Many matters arose.

1. It was confirmed that a contract worth R25 million had been signed between the municipality and Aqua Transport, for the hire of four road graders for a period of three years. Cllr Heyns said that he had been unable to get a copy of the contract, and that it had been signed and sealed without going before the Council’s Executive Committee.

2. It was revealed that the rehabilitation of the municipal dumpsite was progressing very slowly (at a speed sometimes described as “zero”), and that R5 million of the R20 million budget (ex the Province) had already been paid.

3. It was estimated that there were 78km of the old asbestos pipes still carrying Vryheid’s water around, and that it would be a huge cost (R63 million) to replace them all.

4. The pothole-filling contract which made significant progress around town was for 30 days only, hence the programme seemed to have come to a halt having reverted back to the old system.

5. The High Street bridge contractors were back on site after an absence of months. It is untrue that the house adjacent to the northern ramp had to be purchased to accommodate the ramp. It was expected that the job would be complete by the end of May.

6. The staff salary situation (with back pay to 2009) had apparently been resolved with Council endorsing the payments. The DA had requested a “head count” at this time to identify and eliminate “ghost workers”, and also that the individual workers be asked to sign an agreement that the payment was in full and final settlement of the issue. Cllr Heyns remarked that one worker had claimed 28 hours of overtime on a Sunday, twice!

Regarding the back payments, Cllr Heyns said that the municipality’s Chief Financial Officer had been unable to say exactly what the financial implications were, but it was estimated to be between R8-10 million. It was not known where this money was to come from. There had been savings in unfilled posts, and the Zululand District Municipality owed AbaQulusi some monies. The issue was very vague.

7. Regarding parking meters, it was revealed that a number of firms had made presentations to Council, but that a final decision had yet to be made. It appeared that the use of a hand-held ticket-issuing device, operated by a car guard/meter man might be adopted.

8. The Ministerial Administrator was scheduled to leave at the end of March, but as his final report was not completed it would probably be later.

9. Cllr Heyns said that since January he had been “looking at the dams” and “it looks bad”. He said that water restrictions were “in the pipeline”, probably from the end of April. He said that for years the DA had been asking for the wall of Klipfontein Dam to be raised to increase the dam’s capacity, and that when low cost housing schemes were being planned, the DA had asked “Where are you going to get the water from?” without receiving a reply.

10. The municipality is still looking into the possibility of making the services payment date for certain consumers, the 15th of the month. The request has come from, among others, the teachers who are paid on the 15th of the month, and who have to retain sufficient funds to pay accounts received at the end of the month.

11. It was revealed that AbaQulusi residents owe the municipality a total of R97 million, the bulk of which, in the municipality’s debtors age analysis, was owed for 90 days and more. It included monies owed by residents in Vryheid, Bhekuzulu, Mondlo, Hlobane, Thuthukani, Vaalbank, Louwsburg and by the farming sector.

The amount included about R500,000 owed by municipal councillors and employees.

The residents who attended were thanked for their interest in the town by Cllr Bennie Hancke.