‘We are ‘keelvol’ say Payne farm residents

The community of Payne’s Farm in Glencoe, consisting of residents living on Francis, Louisa, Emily, Alice, Commando and Maritz streets, have complained to the municipality numerous times about their living conditions. Their main grievances are the dusty and bumpy roads, the lack of sewage lines, water, and electricity. “We sent a letter to the municipality months ago stipulating all our grievances and they promised to get back to us but never did,” said resident Mr Khulekani.

Mavis Nhlapho’s family from Commando Street has not had running water for the past seven years and they resort to collecting water at a nearby farmers’ house. “My family and I have to fetch water as we don’t have water in our home. There is also no electricity and when it rains we cannot fetch water as its a long distance from where we stay,” explained Mavis. “In 2010 we spoke to the previous Councillor and inspectors came to survey the area but have never set foot here again.”

The Ngobese family has never had electricity and they say their protestations fall on deaf ears. This family survives on Phumulani and Ntombi Buthelezi’s foster care grant. Lizi Ngobese said: “My sister and I are both unemployed and we try to make ends meet with the little that we have and, honestly, we feel like the municipality does not care about us. Not having electricity has made life uncomfortable for us and it gets worse in winter as we have to resort to stone age methods of cooking on a fire.”

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Every family in Payne’s farm has had to deal with one obstacle or another. The Oosthuizen family on Louise Street has a sewage pipe which burst years ago and was never fixed. The family had to make means of covering it as they have children to think of. Miss Oosthuizen said she had reported the matter to the Council but that they never received a response. The Courier has contacted the Municipality several times regarding these grievances and the response has been that the matter will be investigated. It was also said that there is a problem with the municipal grader and once this is up and running it would be sent into the area. Water and sewage are the responsibilities of the Umzinyathi District Municipality and they have been contacted for comment. None had been received at the time of going to press.