The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes with great concern that there has been no intervention from the KZN provincial government in the shutdown protests currently taking place in Ladysmith.
The DA would have expected that the Cogta MEC Sipho Hlomuka, as well as the Safety and Security MEC, would have intervened by now and attempted to engage the community on their grave and valid frustrations and concerns.
Yet, this has not happened in the last 24 hours.
The town is in turmoil with all incoming and outgoing roads being blocked. More and more people are joining the protests with tyres being burned in roads such as Protea Drive and Centenary. The situation is extremely volatile and most businesses are shut down.
There is no service delivery at all in both the UThukela District and Alfred Duma. Water leaks are the norm and there is no waste collection and no grass cutting services. If nothing is urgently done for this municipality in the next 3 years, it will become a ghost town like its neighbouring Harrismith.
According to the reports we received, the workers who work in the water sector have been threatened and are unable to pump water for the residents which have led to residents being without water for the past 3 days.
The people of Alfred Duma are fed up with Mayor Vincent Madlala who has failed dismally to provide people with basic services. Madlala is instead accused of siding with one taxi association faction and responsible for murder.
The DA calls on the provincial government to stop protecting the comrade and fire Madlala with immediate effect.
For years now the DA has been raising the issues of poor service delivery in Council, both in UThukela District and Alfred Duma. Instead of getting answers, we receive threatening calls and SMSs, informing us that we are on the ANC’s ‘hit’ list.