Sulky Sue: Awards, irony, heroes and doing it ourselves

Two things have really annoyed me this past week.

First – the award handed to the Ugu District Municipality. An award?

All while residents north of the Mzimkhulu River bridge, Sea Park and Tweni have sat for days – even weeks – without water. The irony is almost too much to handle.

Since Monday this week, frustrated community members in Oshabeni Location near Port Shepstone have taken to protest action over the lack of water supply.
Tanks have run dry. Taps have followed suit.

And yet, at the same time, officials were wining and dining at the KZN Municipal Excellence Awards in Durban.

It paints a stark picture of the widening gap – those at the top celebrating, while the rest juggle empty taps, rising fuel costs and ongoing Eskom strain. The middle class continues to be squeezed, but somehow it’s still business as usual for those in charge.
Then there’s the bridge.

In what can only be described as desperate times calling for desperate measures, private security companies and local businesses stepped in and did what authorities haven’t – they opened it. Not every hero wears a cape, and this is exactly the case here. These men are heroes.

Not officially, of course, but enough to get people moving.

Motorists are now weaving their way through “bridge closed” signs, sandbags, dirt and dust – simply to cross a structure that should have been completed months ago. It’s chaotic, frustrating and, quite frankly, unacceptable.

And still, not a word from those in power on when this will be resolved.

So here we are – communities left to figure things out on their own, battling to cross both bridges, while waiting… and waiting… and waiting.

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