For more than a week, pupils from Gaga village in Alice could not go to school because of a service delivery protest.
Villagers blockaded roads with burning logs and tyres, preventing cars from entering the area and people from going to town.
Pupils from Gaga Higher Primary, Mpambani Mzimba High and Hesha ngoPhondo Lower Primary schools were affected by the protest as their teachers could not get to school.
Schools in Alice town were also affected as no cars were able to enter the village to pick people up.
Resident Lithabile Mtimkulu said people were forced to walk to town.
“All roads in the village are barricaded with burning logs and tyres,” she said.
Mtimkulu said residents were tired of the poor service delivery. “We have bad roads that are not maintained, [there are] no RDP houses built in the village while other villages have them. There are times when the village would spend more than two months without water.”
Mtimkulu said they had to fight for proper toilets.
She said whenever they raised these issues with the municipality, they were ignored.
Community leader Bafo Mbanjwa said their ward had been neglected.
“We don’t know service delivery in this ward and nothing is happening. It is a hassle to get into the village because of the bad roads and the municipality does nothing to fix this.
“We see progress in other wards while in ours there is nothing being done.
“We don’t have water to drink and there are no government programmes in this ward,” he added.
Councillor Nandipha Guzi did not respond to the Dispatch’s calls and text messages.
Raymond Mhlaba municipality spokesperson Cynthia Mokitimi said they were aware of the service delivery protest.
“Several engagements have been held with the community and its leadership since last year to try and find amicable solutions to their concerns.
“In one of those interactions the municipality called a stakeholders meeting where different departments unpacked their plans for the area,” she said.
Mokitimi said among those who had made commitments was the Amathole District Municipality, which she said was constructing 200 toilets.
“The department of transport also sent their grader to the area to address the road issues and it got torched,” said Mokitimi.
At the time of writing, residents were due to meet and decide on a way forward...