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Makana mayor Yandiswa Vara began a clean-up operation in the Vergenoeg area on Monday, after a three-day protest in Makhanda last week over long-standing service delivery issues.
More than 1,500 residents had taken to the streets, calling on Vara to respond to a memorandum of demands submitted to municipal manager Pumelelo Kate on January 10.
Grahamstown Deserves Better chair Devon Waldick said the organisation had handed over the memorandum on behalf of the residents of Makhanda nearly five months ago and had still not received any feedback.
The memorandum listed six main grievances:
- The violation of the constitutional right to water;
- For the past 15 years, the Makana municipality had failed dismally to honour its lawful and constitutional duties and responsibilities to provide regular water to households across communities;
- For the past 15 years, the Makana municipality failed to prioritise the maintenance of the city’s bulk water reticulation system, with no plan in place to bring an end to the never-ending water crisis;
- The Makana municipality had received more than R600m from different funding sources within the national government to fix the neglected and broken bulk water reticulation system. Despite this, the water reticulation systems remain broken;
- The never-ending water problems in Makhanda are well documented in the media. Instead of acknowledging the problems, the mayor denied there was a water issue in Makhanda and refused to accept responsibility; and
- The mayor, speaker and municipal manager refused to be held accountable for being complicit in violating the constitutional rights of aggrieved citizens.
“We are just gatvol of the current situation,” Waldick said.
He said residents had come from different parts of the city to join forces against the service delivery crisis.
“It was a three-day protest, and the municipality only came out on the third day.
“The mayor [allegedly] refused to meet us on the Monday or the Tuesday [last week], but we kept putting more pressure on her.
“So she eventually came out on the Wednesday to address us.
“We met with the community anti-crime initiative leadership as well as the Unemployed People’s Movement and other concerned residents.
“We gave her seven days to respond to the grievances we had handed over in January.”
Waldick said the community halls in wards 3 and 4 could not be used for the meeting with the mayor due to being vandalised and rundown.
They eventually found a space in the Currie Street Community Library to meet.
“She made lot of promises,” he said.
“As the community, we gave her seven days to respond to our demands, and today [Monday] she went to Vergenoeg.”
The municipality said in a statement on Friday that the mayor wanted to tackle the issues through practical action instead of addressing them theoretically.
As promised, Vara and her team arrived in Vergenoeg on Monday morning, much to the delight of residents.
Waldick said: “She went with the whole municipal delegation, in fact I think most departments were in Vergenoeg today [Monday], tending to the service delivery challenges.”
While Waldick commended Vara on finally taking action to address the dire situation, he said without communities standing up, nothing would be resolved.
“We have to protest to get attention.”
He said on Monday the municipality was fixing leaks.
“It doesn’t come easy, you have to take action.”
Waldick said should the mayor not respond to their demands by Friday, a broader community meeting would be held.
“If she doesn’t respond, we are going to call a public meeting at one of the stadiums and the community will decide what we should do next.
“People go without water here for months at a time — what else can we do?”
Grahamstown Deserves Better also released a statement after Vara and her team arrived in Vergenoeg on Monday morning, welcoming the intervention.
“For months, Vergenoeg lived with sewage in the streets, no refuse removal and collapsing infrastructure.
“The Makana municipality ignored every call and email. Protest forced action.
“Service delivery is not a favour. It is a constitutional duty.
“We therefore demand the same urgent intervention in all areas of Makhanda.
“Makana cannot do ‘intervention by protest’. That is not governance. That is crisis management.”
The group further called for the municipality to publish a full schedule for intervention in all wards by Friday.
Waldick encouraged residents to join forces with them.
With the National Arts Festival set to start on June 25, Waldick said residents did not plan on disrupting the festivities.
“We can’t protest against the festival because it creates employment for our people and we benefit from the festival.
“So it would be very childish of us to march or plan any sort of protest.
“The festival contributes to the economy of the [city] so there is no way we would protest during that time.
“But the mayor needs to call a public meeting and tell us what she has attended to after the seven days.”
Municipal spokesperson Anele Mjekula could not be reached for comment despite repeated calls and texts.
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