Celani Sikhakhane
Fed up community members have been staging a sit-in at a KwaZulu-Natal municipality that’s on the brink of collapse.
They are demanding approval of the budget at the uMkhanyakude District Municipality, which covers, among others, the towns of Mkuze, Matubatuba and Hluhluwe.
It has been two weeks since community members from different areas in the KZN far north began their protest and blocked the gates of the district municipality because of water shortages.
The latest in a series of challenges is the municipality’s failure to approve its 2022/23 budget and Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
Community leader Mandlenkosi Majozi told Scrolla.Africa that they decided to storm the district offices to force all workers to go home and not come back until the chaos from that municipality is resolved.
“We are suffering as community members. We don’t have water, there are no roads and even the existing ones are not being fixed because of the infighting among councillors over the control of our municipality,” said Majozi.
“That is why we stormed the municipal offices and instructed officials to never come back. They cannot continue to stay in offices and do nothing while we are suffering.”
Staff are no longer allowed to come to work with councillors since the community members have blocked the gates.
Majozi said the municipality has been dysfunctional since 1 November last year after the local government elections.
Municipal manager Mxolisi Nkosi revealed that they can’t do anything if councillors are unable to approve the budget.
He said they now rely on the intervention of the provincial Treasury to give them money so that they can pay workers and councillors.
There was an instruction last week that councillors and senior managers could not be paid their salaries but on Friday they were all paid.
The biggest fight over the control of uMkhanyakude is between the IFP and the ANC.
The DA has called for the district to be dissolved.
