WATER shortages and the state of the Port Shepstone taxi rank toilets were at the top of the agenda at the IDP roadshow held at the Port Shepstone Civic Centre last Tuesday, when the Hibiscus Coast Municipality, together with Ugu District Municipality, took its budget to the people.
Residents had the opportunity to voice their grievances directly to the ward councillors and the two mayors. Unhappy businessmen expressed their disappointment regarding the state of the Port Shepstone CBD.
“We are trying to run our businesses but the municipality is not meeting us halfway,” said an unhappy businessman. He added that the unscheduled water and electricity cuts were negatively affecting business.
“Our town is filthy, refuse is not collected regularly, there is no parking space for businesses, and there are no public toilets. How do we run businesses in a town which has no public toilets?” he asked.
He added that some of these things did not even need to be budgeted for, but are things which could be done by municipal officials.
Another resident, from Oshabeni, also commented on the appalling state of the toilets at the rank and asked the municipality to concentrate on them for this budget.
“I can see there is money allocated for new toilets. But we do not need new toilets, we just need the current toilets to be maintained.
Ugu mayor Ntombifikile Gumede admitted that Ugu was experiencing challenges when it came to water supply.
“I would like to apologise to the community for the recent water cuts,” said Ms Gumede. “Ugu is currently working on the upgrading of the Bhobhoyi water plant,” she said.
She added that the municipality was also working towards sorting out the billing system.
“We are currently looking for a contractor to audit and replace faulty water meters and we can assure the community that by July this year we will have a contractor to take responsibility for accurate meter readings,” she said.
