Residents walk out during mayor’s speech
Ms Morajane said the municipality cannot do maintenance because consumers do not pay for municipal services.
The Lekwa Municipality recently held a community meeting at the Social Centre in Sakhile to address the water and sanitation as well as the electricity crisis.
Residents, wanting answers, attended in their numbers in such a way that there were not enough chairs for everybody.
Taps ran dry in some areas and while some did not have water, others had major problems with sewage.
Refuse removal has also been a problem, with waste not collected for weeks.
Residents in Ward 1 and 2 were also left in the dark after a sub-station exploded.
The newly appointed HOD of Technical Services, Mr Herbert Shai, addressed the community and acknowledged the sewage problems in the Rooikoppen area.
He said the municipality is currently replacing the old asbestos water pipes with PVC pipes.
“The town is big and it will cost about R100- to R200- million to fix the water and sewage issues.”
He also said it will be done in phases because they cannot do everything at once.
Mr Shai addressed the electricity crisis, saying the population has grown and there is not enough electricity to supply everyone.
According to him they have an agreement with the Department of Energy to fix the sub-stations.
“The infrastructure is ageing and we are losing money through bridging and illegal connections.”
According to the municipality they will be installing smart meters, that users can not tamper with, in every area in Lekwa.
The Mayor, Ms Caroline Morajane, took to the podium and said they were trying to correct previous mistakes.
She also said the municipality cannot do maintenance because consumers do not pay for municipal services.
According to her they began installing the smart meters at businesses because they use more electricity, which will generate revenue.
She asked residents to use water and electricity sparingly.
Ms Makhazasi Radebe, HOD of Community Safety and Liaison, explained that most of the waste removal trucks were broken and only one was working.
“We bought three trucks and now have four and rubbish will be removed as usual,” she said.
They allowed the residents to ask questions, but only picked a few to participate.
Residents were not satisfied because many questions went unanswered.
Some walked out while the mayor was addressing them, displaying their unhappiness.
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