More municipal queries answered by ward councillor

Ward 97 councillor, André Beetge provides feedback to the community regarding frequent questions he has been asked.

Street lights

We are continuously reporting on the street lights matter which is not only affecting Amanzimtoti, but indeed the entire city. While the situation is certainly far from ideal and unacceptable, there is not enough money to sustain contractors to attend all street lights and while we remain in constant contact and working on a plan with the electricity department to attend at least some of the repairs across the larger Amanzimtoti. It will focus on main arterial roads first while small side streets will at this point have to wait in anticipation of additional capacity. We do however urge residents to continue reporting outages on the electricity WhatsApp number of 076 791 2449 with a clear indication of the street name, faulty pole numbers, suburb, name and contact number while noting the reference number for follow up purposes.

Overtime

It needs to be understood that different departments have different mandates and budgets. Covid-19 has necessitated staggered shifts yet residents still demand the same level of service (at lack of a better word) which in turn necessitates departments to extend shifts into weekends and public holidays. The level of productivity is however a matter for another discussion.

Application of rates to areas specific

Rates are not applied only to the area or street from where it is raised and the city is also not able to function only with the rates that it collects. While it is common knowledge that less than 10% contribute towards the needs of 100%, in turn, inflated by the equitable share from the national fiscus and service charges. The southern areas are by far not the larger contributor, yet not the least demanding. Further to which it remains a fact that many are not currently paying their bills or have, largely due to Covid-19, fallen behind in turn, resulting in a consistent monthly shortfall to maintain the expected levels of service delivery.

Litter

The continued practice of litter being illegally dumped at the road into ward 109 on the border with ward 97 at the lower end of Longacres Drive before the one-way bridge, is constantly being laid at our door to address. While we continue to report it to the relevant department, as indeed the non-urban areas are not serviced by the local DSW Department as part of their scheduled routine, it, in fact, falls within the constraints of a neighbouring ward and part of a different collection strategy. While we have confirmed that Kingsburgh West is serviced every Monday, residents of both ward 97 and ward 109 (and possibly others) nevertheless continue with the illegal dumping as being aware that we continuously attend same in the interest of a clean environment.

New water infrastructure

The road is not going to be tarred over until such time as the project is complete which, failing further challenges, should end September or early October. It is just not practically possible to work, tar, open, test, couple in, close, tar and repeat over and over again. For purposes of enhanced traffic flow and staggered shifts, some work is done during the night which includes removing gravel back fill to test or couple in new pipes as the system progresses. We have however conducted discussions with management in an attempt to increase the number of sweeps to reduce excessive loose gravel. With roads in Winklespruit being essentially non-arterial and as such used largely by residents who are familiar with their immediate surroundings, trenches are not necessarily filled every day as it all comes at a cost and time factor.

Prasa owned land

The strip of land bordering the railway line does not belong to the municipality but is indeed a reserve that cuts through the municipality with ownership vested in Prasa. This is also not unique to Winklespruit or Amanzimtoti but applies across the entire country albeit in some instances narrower or wider. As such, the municipality has no direct jurisdiction to maintain, clear, clean or plant on land which does not belong to it and in the process, apply for funding in the interest of an individual or third-party entity. It is a known fact that the entity is largely bankrupt or more focused on the provision of a transport service as opposed to keeping the area neat and appealing.

Illegal dumping

A written complaint accompanied by photographs, followed by an immediate posting on social media regarding the municipality’s failure to remove litter piled alongside a street pole bin in Warner Beach, necessitated our attention. Especially so as the photographs revealed what appeared retail waste mixed with domestic waste and even bags of recyclables, as opposed to the normally expected street sweepings. Investigations confirmed our initial suspicions as, despite the retail outlet being entrenched in a contract with the municipality, individuals nevertheless took it upon themselves to pile boxes and documents next to the street light pole with a bin strapped thereto in the hope that the municipality would remove same as part of street sweepings. While the municipality has measures in place to remove both domestic and retail refuse, the failure of individuals to abide thereto led to essentially those detailed to do another cleaning, having to be redirected to cleaning what shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Further to which some of the refuse landed and was subsequently blown into the Prasa reserve where, as previously elaborated, the municipality has no mandate to clean or clear. While we secured some commitment from the offending entity, the cleaning will effectively fall to the same residents who clean or fund the cleaning of the area in the better interest of their own and the community’s interest which we find extremely selfish as others could have avoided this by acting timeously and in line with expectation.

ALSO READ: Councillor answers municipal questions

DID YOU KNOW?
Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics.
To receive news links via WhatsApp or Telegram, send an invite to 061 694 6047
The South Coast Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram– why not join us there?

Do you have more information pertaining to this story?
Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.

(Comments posted on this issue may be used for publication in the Sun)