Nyandeni Local Municipality has reached an agreement with residents of Zolani Village over service delivery challenges in the area – which saw residents’ protest action blockade the busy R61, on January 26.
The area was established in 2011 and falls under Ward 9 of the local municipality.
A meeting between municipality leadership and residents of Zolani was held on February 1, when several agreements were reached towards addressing the service delivery challenges raised by the community.
The community raised a lack of access roads, water and sanitation challenges, as well as having no access to electricity among their key grievances.
“We have agreed with residents that the municipality will use its own plant equipment to construct a three-kilometre access road for them as soon as possible. In April we will commence with our integrated development plan (IDP) consultations when other grievances raised by the community will be accommodated in the next financial year,” said Nyandeni Local Municipality mayor, Thandeka Matika.
The municipality previously said that Zolani Village was currently not accommodated in the current municipal IDP as it was a newly-established area, which compounded its service delivery challenges.
Matika further said houses without electricity in the area had already undergone mapping which meant that electrification was on the cards.
Community leader, Sipho Nazo, said that they welcomed the engagement and pronouncements made by the municipality towards addressing their service delivery grievances.
“We are particularly happy with the fact that the municipality has prioritised the issue of an access road as it is our main challenge at the moment. We are further pleased by the commitment made by the municipality to ensure that our area is included on the 2023/2024 financial year IDP which means that our remaining grievances will be budgeted for,” said Nazo.
Ward 9 councillor, Luzuko Gebhu, added that work was underway to address the water and sanitation challenges of the area, and the entire ward.
He said that these included emptying of pit toilets, which was currently underway, as well as advanced plans to drill a bore-hole to address water challenges.
