The Isipingo Ratepayers and Residents Association (IRRA) has taken the eThekwini Municipality to task over poor service delivery during a meeting on Friday.

Ratepayers gave municipal officials an earful. Their main concern was the Kanku Housing Project, where a sewage pump station was not functioning.

In 2020, the R70 million redevelopment got under way. Sewage has thus been flowing into residents' homes on Nilgiri Crescent. Additionally, it is making the roadways in the Isipingo area smell bad. There are 360 units in the low-income housing development.

The ratepayers’ list of grievances was:

Illegal dumping in Isipingo;
Roadside mechanics, Isipingo CBD, and surrounding areas;
Illegal immigrants and pop-up stalls that are selling drugs;
Mini-bus taxis occupying open spaces, parks, and most of the residential pavements and blocking people's driveways;
Recurring water and electricity outages;
Illegal spaza shops, containers, scrapyards;
Illegal land occupation - Old South Coast leading to flooding every year;
Street lights not functioning in the ward and the absence of road markings;
Mini-bus taxis are stopping anywhere on the public roads and offloading passengers, motorists are being victimised and harassed;
Illegal electricity and water connections.

Other issues were:

Criminals stealing the copper cables from substations and water meters from residential areas;

Parks and Gardens - Overgrown bushes and verges are not being maintained timeously.

Spokesperson for the IRRA, Sunildutt Ramadhar, urged officials in attendance to get their house in order.

“We met with the mayor last year, but issues have gone from bad to worse. Please assist us. Let us find a cure to the problems,” he said.

Ramadhar recommended that to prevent illegal dumping, the eThekwini garden refuse collection sites must allow residents and building contractors to offload items in their skip bins provided.

Ramadhar urged the city to fence off vacant land and municipal-owned land to prevent roadside mechanics and minibus taxis from using the property illegally.

“We pay R684 per month for rates. Why should we accept these challenges? Where has our money gone?” Ramadhar asked.

eThekwini Ward 90 councillor Shad Nowbuth said contractors have not handed over the wastewater pump station to the relevant authorities because it is incomplete.

Nowbuth said he was aware that one of the electricity supply lines on a pylon was not replaced, adding strain to the other lines on the network.

“My ward is massive, and there are different challenges, but if everyone comes together, we can sort things out,” Nowbuth advised.

eThekwini mayoral parlour representative, Reginald Cele, said a follow-up feedback meeting will be held.

Cele said the meeting will help find the stumbling blocks in Ward 90 service delivery. He advised the officials in attendance to rectify their service delivery issues.

“Community groups must work together and not in silos.”

Cele stated that a clear presentation would be made by the unit to address these challenges.

Isipingo SAPS station commander Colonel Hensford Zama and Durban metro police Superintendent Magan Govender said they have regular meetings with roleplayers.

Both said that prosecutions and arrests were being made daily in Isipingo. To eliminate traffic congestion in the CBD, Zama called for the city to create a park-off area for minibus taxis outside of the CBD.

He also advised that the cutting of grass be conducted regularly to prevent criminals from hiding in the long grass.

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za