Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Fikile Xasa is in Phola Park residents’ good books again.
Last Monday, Xasa was jeered by residents over a lack of service delivery, but in a dramatic turnaround on Friday, he was cheered upon telling them their houses would be electrified by no later than October.
Phola Park was established in 1987 and is one of Mthatha’s oldest informal settlements.
However, its residents, many of whom still live in shacks and mud houses, are yet to taste the fruits of the country’s democracy as the area lacks basic services such as electricity, tarred roads and RDP homes.
The Daily Dispatch reported recently that angry Phola Park residents chased away IEC officials, who were preparing to man a voter registration station earlier this month.
Last Monday, Xasa, accompanied by OR Tambo mayor Nomakhosazana Meth and King Sabata Dalindyebo mayor Nonkoliso Ngqongwa, spent more than two hours listening to people’s service delivery needs.
Residents demanded that the government show some urgency and install electricity in their homes.
Come Friday, upon his return, there were only cheers for Xasa after he revealed to the disgruntled community that the government had set aside around R7.2-million to bring power to their homes.
“A total of 600 houses here are going to be electrified and the project is set to take about six months,” he told the cheering crowd.
“The first stage between May and June will involve planning whereafter the first 200 houses will be electrified in August. Two hundred more houses will get power the following month and the last 200 will be completed in October,” he said.
Xasa said the money for the project had been sourced from a R200-million hotspot intervention budget announced by Premier Phumulo Masualle to be spent in areas where service delivery protests around electricity problems took place.
Of the total amount, R23-million had already been committed to fund electrification of rural houses in Ntabankulu, which has also been hit by violent protests in recent months, Xasa said.
“We had to prioritise Phola Park because we were scared as there had been threats to damage water infrastructure and electricity poles,” he said.
After his speech, Phola Park community leader Ndabuko Mfukuli told the Dispatch they would only be happy when the project had started in earnest.
The MEC also stopped at Ngcwanguba between Mqanduli and Coffee Bay, where residents from 50 villages had barricaded the road for several days resulting in huge financial losses – especially for businesses in the tourist-friendly Coffee Bay.
A receptionist at a backpacker business in Coffee Bay, Jessica Hugo, said they had been forced to find alternative routes or use hiking trails to get tourists out of the town due to the road closure in Ngcwanguba.
Other businesses had also been forced to cancel bookings because tourists were unable to travel to Coffee Bay.
“The alternative route from the Port St Johns side is in a bad condition and some people just opt to cancel rather than use it,” said Ziyanda Sethe, who works at the Ocean View Hotel in Coffee Bay.
Xasa earlier told the Dispatch that although he was going to try and reason with the Ngcwanguba protesters, he would not be able to make any concrete promises like his announcements in Phola Park, due to the fact that there were matters which he needed to discuss with Eskom first.
Phola Park jeers turns to cheers for Xasa
Last Monday, Xasa was jeered by residents over a lack of service delivery, but in a dramatic turnaround on Friday, he was cheered upon telling them their houses would be electrified by no later than October.
Phola Park was established in 1987 and is one of Mthatha’s oldest informal settlements.
However, its residents, many of whom still live in shacks and mud houses, are yet to taste the fruits of the country’s democracy as the area lacks basic services such as electricity, tarred roads and RDP homes.
The Daily Dispatch reported recently that angry Phola Park residents chased away IEC officials, who were preparing to man a voter registration station earlier this month.
Last Monday, Xasa, accompanied by OR Tambo mayor Nomakhosazana Meth and King Sabata Dalindyebo mayor Nonkoliso Ngqongwa, spent more than two hours listening to people’s service delivery needs.
Residents demanded that the government show some urgency and install electricity in their homes.
Come Friday, upon his return, there were only cheers for Xasa after he revealed to the disgruntled community that the government had set aside around R7.2-million to bring power to their homes.
“A total of 600 houses here are going to be electrified and the project is set to take about six months,” he told the cheering crowd.
“The first stage between May and June will involve planning whereafter the first 200 houses will be electrified in August. Two hundred more houses will get power the following month and the last 200 will be completed in October,” he said.
Xasa said the money for the project had been sourced from a R200-million hotspot intervention budget announced by Premier Phumulo Masualle to be spent in areas where service delivery protests around electricity problems took place.
Of the total amount, R23-million had already been committed to fund electrification of rural houses in Ntabankulu, which has also been hit by violent protests in recent months, Xasa said.
“We had to prioritise Phola Park because we were scared as there had been threats to damage water infrastructure and electricity poles,” he said.
After his speech, Phola Park community leader Ndabuko Mfukuli told the Dispatch they would only be happy when the project had started in earnest.
The MEC also stopped at Ngcwanguba between Mqanduli and Coffee Bay, where residents from 50 villages had barricaded the road for several days resulting in huge financial losses – especially for businesses in the tourist-friendly Coffee Bay.
A receptionist at a backpacker business in Coffee Bay, Jessica Hugo, said they had been forced to find alternative routes or use hiking trails to get tourists out of the town due to the road closure in Ngcwanguba.
Other businesses had also been forced to cancel bookings because tourists were unable to travel to Coffee Bay.
“The alternative route from the Port St Johns side is in a bad condition and some people just opt to cancel rather than use it,” said Ziyanda Sethe, who works at the Ocean View Hotel in Coffee Bay.
Xasa earlier told the Dispatch that although he was going to try and reason with the Ngcwanguba protesters, he would not be able to make any concrete promises like his announcements in Phola Park, due to the fact that there were matters which he needed to discuss with Eskom first.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos