On Monday, November 7, I requested the mayor to call an urgent Exco meeting to resolve the disruption in the refuse collection service. Despite not responding to my request, she did call the special Exco meeting on Friday.

Exco meeting
Although there was much discussion around the delays in procurement of PPE for employees and controls over issuing the same, (which in my opinion was completely avoidable), my focus and desired outcome from the meeting was the resumption of the service and I am pleased to report that this was achieved.

Management informed Exco that the PPE will be delivered to the municipality by November and that employees could/would not work without the necessary protective gear.

Exco unanimously resolved to support management to go ahead with the hire of two fully equipped vehicles to commence with refuse collection as soon as possible. In response to my concern regarding the financial implications, the municipal manager confirmed that funds are available within the current budget.

My proposal that the first areas to be serviced should be the Scottburgh and Umzinto CBDs was unanimously supported. Residential areas will then be attended to. Management will provide daily schedules that will be communicated to residents.

Streetlight Repairs
Some funds were made available in the current budget (July 2022 to June 2023) for the repair of streetlights. Despite continuously following up and commitments being given, no repairs have commenced.

I made representation to speak at the Infrastructure and Housing Portfolio meeting on November 1 to raise among other concerns, the matter of the streetlight repairs and the unacceptable delays. The committee unanimously agreed that the chairperson escalate this matter. The repair of streetlights was also one of the items listed in the Memorandum to the Speaker to call a special Council meeting.

A service provider has been appointed and the relevant ward councillors met with the service provider. He has already commenced compiling a list of non-functional lights and will complete this task by 16 November, A follow-up meeting is scheduled for the same day. The budget allocation for each ward should also be finalized at this meeting.

Repairs are scheduled to commence on 17 November.. My proposal that the CBDs and the complaints logged with the municipality’s customer services unit be prioritised was unanimously agreed to in principle.

The budget available falls way short of what is needed to fix all the lights. The service provider will determine the priority repairs in consultation with the ward councillors. I will be requesting additional funds during the budget adjustment process.

Special council meeting
On November 9, I submitted a memorandum to the speaker to call an urgent special sitting of the Umdoni Council on behalf of all opposition councillors. This meeting was requested to deal with service delivery failures in Umdoni.

” We, the below-mentioned councillors are requesting you to call an urgent council meeting tomorrow or Friday at the latest, to discuss the numerous service delivery failures by Umdoni Municipality and map a way forward to get these services rendered. The residents of Umdoni expect nothing less from us and I am hopeful that you would also be in agreement to address these service delivery backlogs. At the moment, almost every service in Umdoni has come to a halt or is sub-standard (refuse collection, verge cutting, roads project, rural roads maintenance, roads and bridges damaged during floods, etc)”.

After deliberations, the following is reported: Refuse collection is scheduled to commence on Saturday, November 12. Streetlight repairs commence this week. Verge contractors have been appointed for November. We will pursue the appointment of contractors to take us to June 2023.

The contractors to clean open spaces must be appointed without delay – the area next to the Blue Marlin Hotel is a priority. Cemeteries must be cleaned monthly. The Scottburgh pools are scheduled to be fully operational by November 20 – we will be monitoring this.

Details on the costs and timeframes for the roads programme is still outstanding as is details on the Disaster Funding. These two items will be pursued as a priority given the state of our infrastructure. The rural roads maintenance programme is being worked on with the relevant ward councillors. Urban gravel roads will be included in this programme.

Umdoni’s response is insufficient to give confidence that they are managing the situation. For this reason the Democratic Alliance caucus has escalated the matter via DA MPL Edwin Baptie to request provincial intervention from the MEC. The MEC’s response will be shared when we receive it.

Councillor Shara Singh
Umdoni Caucus Leader

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