Parliament, Thursday, 8 April 2021 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) had a follow-up engagement with the Ethekwini Metropolitan Municipality and KwaZulu-Natal’s Department of Cooperative Governance on progress made on the petition from the residents of Ward 52, which includes Bhambayi, Mamba, Brooksfarm and eMaoti community members.
The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Faith Muthambi, presented a brief history of the petition to the committee, highlighting the time in which the petition reached the committee and what the committee has done since receiving it. She said the petition was referred to the committee by the Office of the Speaker of the National Assembly on 11 June 2020, who asked the committee to consider it and report to the House.
The petition included 14 grievances relating to the lack of service delivery, including housing; roads; drainage systems; healthcare; policing; partisan distribution of food parcels, vouchers, employment and sub-contracting opportunities; as well as the arrogance of the ward councillor in the municipality’s Human Settlements Department. The committee had invited the City of Ethekwini to respond to the petition.
On housing, the municipality reported that it submitted a stage 1 application to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements in March 2020. It said the department is in the process of assessing the application after the process was delayed by the outbreak of the coronavirus in March last year. In respect of Amaoti Cuba pilot project under Greater Amaoti, the committee reported that construction of houses is in progress.
The committee also visited Bhambayi, Mamba, Brooks Farm and Amoati communities in Ward 52 to assess some of the grievances highlighted in the petition. However, the ward councillor led the committee to a meeting of community members who were opposed to the petition and who criticised those who submitted the petition to Parliament.
Ms Muthambi said: “We corrected the opponents of the petition. We informed them that there is nothing wrong with a petition. It is a constitutional right of members of the community who are unhappy about, among other things, service delivery to express themselves.
The committee welcomed the report. However, the committee also believes that it only covers some of the pertinent issues including the irregular expenditure of R300 million written off by the City. It also lacked details requested by the committee. The committee also felt that the report was a repetition of what had been reported in the first engagement in 2020. The petitioners, represented by Mr Mpostolo Radebe, expressed dissatisfaction with the report.
The City has committed to return to Bhambayi and other communities in Ward 52 to do further investigation into the issues the petitioners are unhappy about. It undertook to submit a comprehensive report on all the outstanding details on Thursday, 15 April, to the committee secretary.
Ms Muthambi urged the city to ensure that its councillors are responsible for all the people in their wards. “Councillors are responsible for all, including residents who did not vote for them. Please ensure that public participation in the municipality is working effectively,” added Ms Muthambi.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, MS FAITH MUTHAMBI.
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