The visit to Komani by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was a waste of time for locals.
She was addressing hundreds of community members at the Chris Thembisile Hani Hexagon on Monday, February 6, following a two-day-shutdown of the town.
The challenges facing the town are prolonged electricity outages, roads riddled with potholes and non-refuse removal. The municipality owes Eskom almost R1 billion.
Addressing the community after a marathon of undisclosed meetings, Dlamini-Zuma said, “Thank you for your patience. We came here from Pretoria. As a minister, one minister I can’t make a decision. What I will do is to present a memorandum to cabinet.
“I don’t have the power to decide. I’m one minister. I will take what I have been told to the cabinet. The cabinet meets next Wednesday. I will ask the president to prioritise your issues. Cabinet will make a decision.”
One of the Komani Protest Action committee members, Pastor Solomzi Nkwentsha, said the intermittent electricity outages were a major issue.
He said electricity, potholes, lack of water provision and non-removal of refuse were major challenges.
“We have the National Cabinet Representative and we want him to declare his findings. Our electricity infrastructure is rotten. Wrong companies are employed to do work and they never finish it. It is on these grounds we have decided that the municipality must be dissolved,” he said.
Another KPA leader Mncedisi Mbengo said the issue was no longer about service but the dissolution of council.
“The only voice we want from Dr Dlamini-Zuma is to say Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality is history and that executive mayor Madoda Papiyana must go. Her coming here was a waste of time and state resources,” Mbengo said.
