Eskom should take over electricity supply and billing throughout the metro was the call from Mdantsane residents at an imbizo the Mdantsane indoor sports centre yesterday.
The event was organised by an organic network of “concerned residents”.
About 200 people from around the township gathered at the arena to voice grievances they feel have been neglected by Buffalo City Metro.
Burning issues included high electricity tariffs, inaccurate billing and estimations on water readings, and other aspects of poor service.
Thulani Ntanda, who was among the facilitators of the imbizo, said residents should take back the power they had bestowed on the municipality.
“We requested for the mayor to be here, to listen to our concerns and hear the frustration of the people who voted for him,” he said.
In a letter responding to the invite, read by Ntanda at the mass gathering, BCM mayor Xola Pakati said he would be engaging in an IDP hearing during the same period, which was the channel for residents to voice out their concerns.
However, NU12 resident Kholeka Damoyi said she sacrificed collecting her Sassa grant so that she could speak to the mayor at the NU12 community hall last week, “but he never pitched”.
The disgruntled community discussed a national shutdown of the township in a bid to get Pakati’s attention to resolve their issues.
Former COPE PR councillor Khayalandile Twalingca said the municipality’s promise to develop the township had been empty.
“There have been so many monies allocated to the township, but nothing has materialised. The Mdantsane swimming pool is still a white elephant and the main road is still dark with malfunctioning streetlights.
“A suburb like Gonubie, with a population far less than Mdantsane, was given a state-of-the-art sewage treatment works in 2014, and now a concrete main road worth R14-million. Why must an already developed suburb gain so much while sewer spills and potholes are part of everyday life in Mdantsane?”
NU1 resident Merlyn Qwayisa said his community experienced regular water and power outages because of old water pipes and faulty electricity meter boards, which had not been fixed by the municipality.
“We sometimes don’t have water for days, the same applies with the electricity, and it takes so long for everything to be fixed.
“With the problems recurring, I’d expect them to have put in new pipes and meters by now,” he said.
Local businessman Gcobani Lukwe said SMMEs in Mdantsane were sidelined while projects were given to people from afar.
“If we are being excluded in our own backyard, where can we expect to get business?”
Residents fed up with BCM
The event was organised by an organic network of “concerned residents”.
About 200 people from around the township gathered at the arena to voice grievances they feel have been neglected by Buffalo City Metro.
Burning issues included high electricity tariffs, inaccurate billing and estimations on water readings, and other aspects of poor service.
Thulani Ntanda, who was among the facilitators of the imbizo, said residents should take back the power they had bestowed on the municipality.
“We requested for the mayor to be here, to listen to our concerns and hear the frustration of the people who voted for him,” he said.
In a letter responding to the invite, read by Ntanda at the mass gathering, BCM mayor Xola Pakati said he would be engaging in an IDP hearing during the same period, which was the channel for residents to voice out their concerns.
However, NU12 resident Kholeka Damoyi said she sacrificed collecting her Sassa grant so that she could speak to the mayor at the NU12 community hall last week, “but he never pitched”.
The disgruntled community discussed a national shutdown of the township in a bid to get Pakati’s attention to resolve their issues.
Former COPE PR councillor Khayalandile Twalingca said the municipality’s promise to develop the township had been empty.
“There have been so many monies allocated to the township, but nothing has materialised. The Mdantsane swimming pool is still a white elephant and the main road is still dark with malfunctioning streetlights.
“A suburb like Gonubie, with a population far less than Mdantsane, was given a state-of-the-art sewage treatment works in 2014, and now a concrete main road worth R14-million. Why must an already developed suburb gain so much while sewer spills and potholes are part of everyday life in Mdantsane?”
NU1 resident Merlyn Qwayisa said his community experienced regular water and power outages because of old water pipes and faulty electricity meter boards, which had not been fixed by the municipality.
“We sometimes don’t have water for days, the same applies with the electricity, and it takes so long for everything to be fixed.
“With the problems recurring, I’d expect them to have put in new pipes and meters by now,” he said.
Local businessman Gcobani Lukwe said SMMEs in Mdantsane were sidelined while projects were given to people from afar.
“If we are being excluded in our own backyard, where can we expect to get business?”
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