Jabulani Mkhonza
UThukela District Municipality
Communications Unit
The Thuma Mina campaign took off and headed to KwaVala, Phasiwe and Wembezi areas under Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality on March 20 to address service delivery challenges.
The Speaker Cllr PG Strydom led the team, comprising the Ward Councillor Mgaga and officials, to KwaVala to tackle specifically issues of water and sanitation.
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Speaking to the community, Cllr Strydom informed them that Uthukela District Municipality has made an assessment with regards to water provision in the area. Ponds were also inspected and were found to be silted. The Speaker said that excavators will be used to remove the silt from the ponds to increase capacity.
The water supply will be taken from the ponds and be connected to the water works from Gorton.
Mrs Strydom also mentioned that the team found that most hand pumps in the area were reportedly broken but they have now been fixed.
She emphasised that Uthukela District has to take care of 74 wards across the district. The community was pleased that Uthukela District visited to give feedback on the progress made. They raised concerns about water leaks and disaster management.
By midday, the Thuma Mina team headed to the Phasiwe area to continue with its community engagement meetings. This time the team was led by Uthukela Chief Whip Cllr S Dlungwane, Ward Councillor S Mdakane, traditional leadership and officials who went there to tackle water issues affecting this community.
Addressing the community, Cllr Dlungwane said he was here to engage with the community on issues relating to water, sanitation, disaster management and economic development. He said due to climate change, disasters are happening now and again.
Cllr Dlungwane emphasised that the municipality is committed to providing decent and hygienic sanitation facilities to all to restore human dignity.
On water provision he said the municipality supplies water to the community through the means of piped water, boreholes, protected springs and water tankers as an emergency response. The last Thuma Mina activity of the day was held in Wembezi later in the afternoon.
The team was led by Uthukela Chief Whip Cllr S Dlungwane, Ward Councillor B Dladla and officials who introduced the service providers to construct the water project. The contractors will be upgrading the bulk water rising main from George Cross Water Works right up to areas in Wembezi and Ntabamhlophe.
The contractors are SBT and Yaluza JV. The duration of the project is 36 months and is funded by WSIG.
Over R77 million has been injected into the project. More than 20 job opportunities are expected to be created per phase. According to the Chief Whip the project will run in phases until its completion. He said poor revenue collection negatively affects proper service delivery.
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