Fed up with throwing rotten food away due to prolonged electricity outages as a result of dilapidated municipal electrical infrastructure, thousands of Komani and surrounding areas’ residents gathered to close entrances to the troubled town.
Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM) has been under fire with outages lasting between nine to 16 days at times.
Nomzamo, Magxaki and Eskom residential areas were without power for a total of 16 days in December last year, leading to a literal black Christmas.
The Mlungisi area, which includes townships such as Eskom, Unifound, Nomzamo and Khayelitsha, were without electricity for seven days, with power only returning on Saturday, January 21. Half of the Top Town suburb was out for seven days until last night, January 25, while the other half is on day eight.
Speaking to locals during a 6km walk to close the entrance from the East London side, Komani-Karoo Express was told that the march was apolitical and meant to enhance service delivery.
Resident Athabile Mbuku said the march for him meant that residents had had enough.
“This is a sign of a community that has had enough. We have been without electricity for very long now. We have had to throw food away and our children had a bad first day at school due to the dilapidated municipal electrical infrastructure,” he said.
The 27-year-old legal practitioner said the municipality had been ignoring the residents’ pleas for service delivery adding the march was not motivated by any political affiliation besides service delivery.
New Vale long-time resident Sibongile Mfengu said for him the march meant the community had decided to stand up and seek answers to their many unresolved service delivery challenges.
He said the march should be a wakeup call to the authorities to listen to locals regardless of their political affiliation.
“We have roads that are riddled with potholes, electricity outages for days on end and water that does not come out of taps for days. We hope the march will change the mindset of government leaders – not just locally but in provincial and national government as well,” he said.
Mfengu said locals had been crying for too long without a response from the government.
“We have had to throw away food because it rots in the fridges when there is no electricity. A lot of people don’t work and depend on social grants and family members for support. How are they expected to replace food they throw away. Even those who work have budgets and can’t keep buying food and throwing it away because it is rotten,” he said.
Jozanne Rooi from Aloe Vale said she hoped the thousands of people, from different walks of life, who had gathered, would resonate with the powers that be.
“We have been saving money through stokvels since January 2022 and when we share the food we buy in December, we buy in bulk. I had R5 000 worth of groceries and had to throw out all the refrigerated food. I had to throw away an entire sheep that we had slaughtered to carry us through December and January. We are not trying to do harm to anyone, we just want services,” said an emotional Rooi.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said, “Earlier police fired stun grenades when people became aggressive. No injuries,” she said.
EMLM spokesperson Lonwabo Kowa said the municipality had noted with concern ongoing service delivery protests in town.
He said the protests had caused harm to business activity.
“While all citizens have a right to voice their views on matters affecting them, it is equally important that this is done in a peaceful and non-destructive manner which does not infringe the rights of others,” said Kowa.
He said the municipality has embarked on stakeholder engagements with several stakeholders led by Executive Mayor Madoda Papiyana.
“These engagements were to address service delivery-related issues namely electricity, roads and refuse collection. We call on all community members to remain calm as the municipality is currently implementing its short- and long-term plans to deal with all service delivery concerns,” he said.
Kowa said Papiyana has made a commitment in ensuring that these are resolved as they remain a priority for the municipality.
A quick drive around town showed that businesses had been closed around town. The reason for the closure had not been established at the time of writing.
