Disgruntled King William’s Town residents have lambasted Buffalo City Metro mayor Xola Pakati and his administration for neglecting them in favour of Mdantsane and East London.
The accusations were fired directly at Pakati by an angry crowd at his first mayoral imbizo address of the year, held at the King William’s Town Victoria Grounds stadium on Thursday.
A crowd of 1000 came to listen and have their say.
Pakati was holding the imbizo to report back on the metro’s progress in dealing with the complaints of the inland residents from last year’s mayoral imbizo.
The majority of residents loudly expressed disappointment at Pakati’s speech, with some saying – to cries of agreement – that their pleas had not been addressed.
During question time, facing the heat, Pakati told the crowd: “We are not going to stand here and lie.”
This sparked a chorus of negative comments and catcalls including “Yuu!” and “No!
At one point, Pakati told a heckler: “Do you have a problem?”
The man, who had been shouting at him, then went up to the mayor and the two had an animated conversation.
After this exchange Pakati, who had been calm and measured until then, appeared upset.
Ward 38 residents, which includes Tyusha village, broke into applause when resident Sipho Mnyaka said: “Our roads have not been fixed despite promises made by Ncedo Kumbaca [chair of the infrastructure portfolio committee] to us that our roads would be fixed in August. We take drugs in King William’s Town because of unemployment.
“We don’t get the same treatment from BCM as Mdantsane and Ncerha villages.
“There is just no development in King William’s Town.”
Dimbaza resident Nomthandazo Nkonki, from ward 36, complained of appalling living conditions in the township and said the only time BCM cared about cleaning the area was when an event was scheduled to take place.
“We don’t have rubbish bins in Dimbaza. We don’t even have black plastic bags, the ones that are supplied by the municipality. We don’t get them.
“But in East London these services are provided.”
Other residents complained that Pakati had wasted time and resources addressing issues that were not a priority.
Thembela Sigweba from Ilitha said in response to Pakati’s promise to erect speed humps in the area: “Speed humps are the last thing we want.
“We need houses. We need a tarred road leading to our cemetery. People are living like pigs in Amajarantiya.
“Housing projects are started but never completed.
“The situation is sad.”
At last year’s imbizo in October, Pakati told thousands of residents that 2,000 RDP houses would be built in Breidbach starting in March this year.
The announcement came after Breidbach residents closed the N2 with violent protests, as they did again this week.
However, on Thursday, the mayor appeared to move the goalposts when he stated: “The contractor for this project has already been appointed by the provincial department of human settlements and they have undertaken site establishment since August 2018.
“The project steering committee [PSC] is in place and its meetings are taking place at scheduled intervals.
“The housing typology has been chosen by the PSC, has been approved by the beneficiaries and is in the process of undergoing the necessary municipal approvals.
“The contractor on site is implementing the water services infrastructure portion of the project. The contractor will start implementation of the sewer portion in November.”
Pakati said the need for houses in Amajarantiya was noted and the BCM council had approved the township establishment for Amajarantiya.
“Surveys are under way for general plans and BCM human settlements will start with beneficiary registration,” he said.
After speaking against drug abuse in the area, residents told Pakati the only way to solve drug abuse was if BCM fixed sports fields and created employment to keep the youth busy...