Durban — ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal has vowed to continue with the litigation against eThekwini Municipality as well as various national and provincial government departments after the City failed to provide a tangible action plan for sewer infrastructure repairs – damage caused by the April 2022 floods.
This was revealed by KZN ActionSA chairperson Zwakele Mncwango during a media briefing at Kenville in Durban on Monday.
Mncwango said that the aim of the briefing was to give an update in terms of how far his party were with their litigation against the municipality.
“We have come a long way with this matter. We went to court after we had tried to persuade the City to provide us with a plan of action as to how they are going to fix the sewer issues post last year’s floods.
“The City has been failing to give us a plan, to a point where they even asked to engage with us outside court, and again, over months, they have been saying that they have a plan to fix the sewer crisis in this municipality.
“We know that they have received R1.5 billion from Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) in terms of the Drought Fund,” said Mncwango.
He added that when the party met the City, they confirmed that they had received the funds, but did not yet have a plan.
“The City has been promising to give us this plan, and we have been waiting for this plan for months, but instead they keep asking for an extension, and when the deadline was due around May, they said we must give them more time because they were busy with the water crisis in Ntuzuma.
“But finally, they have provided us with a plan with many pages, but lacking in terms of content and how they are going to achieve what was promised,” said Mncwango.
Vishnu Naicker, a resident of Kenville, said that the area has been experiencing sewer problems for over two years.
“The smell is unbearable, especially in the evenings and early mornings, and it is getting worse day by day.
“We sometimes get sick because of the smell, and sometimes the sewer is an unbearable sight to look at every day,” said Naicker.
He said that, as residents, they have been complaining to the municipality, but they get different reference numbers, and the City has been promising to come to look at the sewer issues, but that has not happened.
“As residents, we would like to request that they at least fix the sewer pipes so that the issue can stop because we have been paying too much rate money over the years for this to be happening,” said Naicker.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Lindiwe Khuzwayo said that the City could not comment on this matter since it is an ongoing issue.
KZN Cogta spokesperson Siboniso Mngadi said the drought relief funds were dispersed by the National Treasury, and the funds only reached eThekwini this year.
“We can say that the KZN Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs provides support to all municipalities as part of its mandate.
“eThekwini Municipality has also been assisted in that regard, and the department is monitoring the progress on flood recovery programmes,” said Mngadi.
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