Gqeberha

Dear Editor

The main pump house in Zola, Tarkastad, which is supposed to pump sewage to the Tarkastad waste water treatment works, has not operated for years and is completely surrounded by a dam of sewage. (See photos here and here).

This gruesome discovery was made on Tuesday when I conducted an oversight inspection in Tarkastad to assess service delivery issues in the town.

According to residents living across the road from the pump house, sewage levels are regularly so high that the sewage fills the road and floods their yards.

Local municipal workers say that there is nothing they can do about it as it is the responsibility of the Chris Hani District Municipality to manage water and sewage in the district.

But Chris Hani District Municipality is one of the most corrupt and broken municipalities in the country and ongoing cadre deployment has left it with little to no capacity to fulfil its mandate.

So residents, whose homes were planned and built before the pump station was erected right across the road from their homes, usually have to walk through the faeces in order to leave or return to their homes.

The health risks of such barbaric living conditions are enormous and residents often suffer from diarrhoea and other stomach ailments as a result.

I will write to the EC MEC for COGTA, Xolile Nqatha, to request his urgent intervention to ensure that the Chris Hani District Municipality effects immediate repairs to the faulty pump house and maintains it adequately going forward.

In DA-led municipalities, this blatant disregard for the health and wellbeing of communities would never be tolerated. The DA is proud of our track record of being the best governing party in South Africa. This includes upgrading and maintaining infrastructure which ensures that not only are basic services delivered, but residents are able to live lives of value too.

Regards

Jane Cowley, MPL
Enoch Mgijima Constituency Leader

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Dear Edior

A DA government in the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality (IYM) will fight to force the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM) to return the water and sanitation competency to the local municipality.

Since 2014, the residents of Cradock and Middelburg have been subjected to the incompetence of the CHDM, which clearly does not possess the financial or human resources to provide basic water and sanitation services to our people. The Waste Water Treatment Plants in both Cradock and Middelburg are totally dysfunctional and, as a result, millions of litres of untreated sewage is being dumped into our rivers on a daily basis.

Dysfunctional sewage pump stations continue to expose our people to disease, as our streets and public open spaces are covered in sewage. Some of these pump stations have been dysfunctional for years without any attempt being made by the district authority to rectify the situation. The most basic function of reticulating potable water to residents is also proving to be a huge challenge to the CHDM.

Extended water outages often leave residents without potable water for days on end. The latest example is the community of Bergsig in Cradock who, for the umpteenth time this year, is experiencing an extended water outage for days.

The rendering of accounts by the CHDM has been equally challenging with most consumers having received incorrect accounts reflecting that they owe tens of thousands of rands to the municipality.

CHDM has proven that it is incapable of fulfilling its water and sanitation mandate in Cradock and Middelburg and must be forced to relinquish this competency as soon as possible.

There is hope, however. The DA is committed to fight tooth and nail to wrestle this municipality out of the hands of the ANC. When the DA takes over control of IYM after the municipal elections on 1 November 2021, we will do everything within our ability to have the water and sanitation competency returned to our local municipality.

Should the water and sanitation competency be returned to IYM a DA-led government will:

• Upgrade both Waste Water Treatments Plants in Cradock and Middelburg;
• Fix and refurbish broken sewage and water pump stations;
• Put in place a maintenance plan to maintain our water and sanitation infrastructure;
• Secure all pump stations against vandalism.

The DA will bring change to IYM. Together we can save our municipality so that all of us can move forward again.

Regards

Cllr Monde Desha
DA Inxuba Yethemba Mayoral Candidate

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Dear Editor

Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality was recently gifted R12-million in lights for use in areas in need of lighting. The donations emanated from Germany. The lights were placed in the municipal stores for “safe-keeping” until they were to be used. This property is supposedly guarded by GAP Security as part of a larger security tender costing the Municipality millions of rands per annum.

On Sunday night, 10 October 2021, 11 of the lights were stolen. This follows after a recent alleged theft of 200 metres of copper cable. Over the last few months many thefts have been perpetrated at the same site. (see picture here)

I have written to the Municipal Manager, Dr Edward Rankwana and the Director of Engineering and Planning to attempt to clarify the situation around the lights. I have asked whether or not the lights were insured, as well as the value of the lights that were stolen. I have also asked whether or not the Municipality is happy with the service of GAP Security and if not, what is being done to remedy this.

This Municipality is in dire straits financially. It cannot afford to replace these lights. Nor can it continue to pay for a service that appears to be woefully inadequate in protecting the assets of the municipality.

There is simply no excuse for not securing such a valuable gift and the likelihood of these donors donating more to Dr Beyers Naude in the future is now slim because the municipality has demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to look after its assets.

Under a Democratic Alliance government, we will demand value for money from service providers. We will also ensure that any donations made for the improvement of our communities will be treated with the requisite care. Because the DA gets things done.

Regards

Cllr Ewald Loock
DA Dr Beyers Naude Mayoral Candidate

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Dear Editor

Broken municipalities across the Eastern Cape that are led by a broken party are resulting in the collapse of services and the destruction of job opportunities.

The ongoing collapse of Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) facilities across the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM) continues to result in raw sewage spills polluting the environment and numerous freshwater sources. On a daily basis, people must navigate their way across rivers and dams of sewage, while the pollution of freshwater sources is wreaking havoc in the Great Fish River.

On Friday, 24 September 2021, I was joined by DA Inxuba Yethemba Mayoral Candidate, Cllr Monde Desha, in laying criminal charges against the CHDM Municipal Manager at the Cradock Police Station. The charges were laid against him in his capacity as accounting officer for the district. Charges were laid in terms of section 151 of the National Water Act for failure to adhere to non-compliance notices regarding pollution, and failure to act on directives issued by the National Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). According to the Act, this is an offence that could result in a fine and/or imprisonment. (see pictures here and here)

Information sourced by the DA from a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application, indicates that since 2017 non-compliance notices regarding pollution have been issued by the DWS in almost every town in the district. At least seven directives to stop pollution resulting from failing WWTW were issued. The PAIA application further revealed that at least eight freshwater rivers, of which one is the Fish River and others are tributaries to the Fish River, are being polluted by raw sewage.

The situation in CHDM is a result of allowing infrastructure to deteriorate to a point of complete collapse. It is clear that CHDM is either unwilling to deal with or incapable of dealing with this disaster of its own making. The water and sanitation function is best managed by local municipalities that have increased capacity to deal with issues that have a major health impact on communities in large districts.

Polluted water sources and raw sewage pose a massive health hazard to people living in this district and can, therefore, also have a far-reaching negative impact on the local economy.

The DA gets things done and DA governments have proved that they know how to deliver water and sanitation services.

In the DA-governed Kouga Municipality two brand new state-of-the-art waste water treatment works have been constructed since the DA took over in 2016. In Nelson Mandela Bay, where the DA governs with coalition partners, we have resolved more than 13 300 sewage complaints since 1 January 2021.

Our 2021 Local Government Elections Manifesto states that we will ensure that every community has access to reliable, clean, running water, that is safe to drink and to prepare food. And that there is no untreated waste water contaminating the environment, homes, streets, and sidewalks.

Because where the DA governs, we get things done.

Regards

Vicky Knoetze, MPL
DA EC Shadow MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA)

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Dear Editor

Today, 21 September 2021, I officially launched the DA’s Inxuba Yethemba Mayoral Campaign in Midros in Middelburg – a town which has become synonymous with more than two decades of corrupt, inept and uncaring ANC governance in the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality (IYM).

I was joined at the launch in the Midros Community Hall by EC Midlands Constituency Leader, Retief Odendaal, MPL, and Cllr Monde Desha, DA Inxuba Yethemba Mayoral Candidate. (see pictures here, here, here and here)

Towns like Cradock and Middelburg used to be the pride of rural Eastern Cape, but decades under an ANC government have seen these towns reduced to rubble and stripped of their former glory.

Residents have become accustomed to raw sewage flowing in the streets, massive potholes, rubbish not being collected and constant water and electricity outages.

The lack of service delivery has destroyed the local economy, and unemployment has sky-rocketed.

Our Mayoral Candidate will lead our troops into battle as we fight for good governance, service delivery and prosperity in IYM – all of which can be delivered under a DA government after we triumph on 1 November 2021 when we go to the polls for the Local Government Elections.

Cllr Desha is the right man for the job and has served as a DA councillor for six years and as caucus leader for five years. He will be joined by all our councillors and activist in traveling the length and breadth of IYM to interact with residents.

We believe we can win an outright majority in Inxuba Yethemba as a result of the complete neglect by the ANC and the work we have done over many years in this municipality.

When we take over the administration we will:

• Stop corruption;
• Institute a financial turnaround strategy;
• Implement an urgent maintenance plan for infrastructure;
• Fast-track service delivery to all communities;
• Fight to have water and sanitation competency returned to IYM.
• The DA wants to return towns like Cradock and Middelburg to their rightful place as economic hubs in the Eastern Cape Karoo. A DA government will focus on delivering quality services, appointing fit for purpose municipal staff and clamping down on corruption and maladministration within the municipality. We will create an enabling environment for business to thrive and address unemployment.

Only the DA is strong enough to beat the ANC in IYM and bring the change that residents deserve.

Together we can save our municipality, because where the DA governs, we get things done.

Regards

Andrew Whitfield, MP
DA Eastern Cape Provincial Chairperson

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Dear Editor

Nothing has come of the much anticipated intervention by the EC Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) in the failing administration of the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality (IYM). Despite the many promises made by CoGTA, the residents of IYM have once again been left to their own devices in a municipality that is unable to deliver even basic services.

Eastern Cape CoGTA MEC, Xolile Nqatha, ordered an investigation into the IYM administration in terms of section 106 of the Municipal Systems Act.

A section 106 investigation is instituted if an MEC has reason to believe that a municipality cannot or does not fulfil its binding statutory obligations or that maladministration, fraud, corruption or any other serious malpractice has occurred.

This investigation followed a series of service delivery protests by the residents of Cradock and Middelburg earlier this year that saw at least two dead.

Unfortunately for the residents of this municipality, MEC Nqatha and his department have been exposed as just wanting to appease the public, with no further action having been taken to resolve the myriad of problems the administration faces after the report that was released in March 2021.

Life in IYM remains a daily struggle. Residents have become accustomed to frequent water and electricity interruptions as a result of unmaintained, collapsing infrastructure. Sewage flows freely in our streets and into our waterways because sewerage pump stations are non-operational.

Road infrastructure has all but collapsed and all communities are engulfed by filth and garbage.

The municipality currently has more that R220 million in outstanding ESKOM debt and many other creditors have to wait months before their accounts are settled. The municipality is in fact in such a precarious financial situation that it struggles to pay staff salaries on a monthly basis.

Recently, the community of Rosmead was without electricity for more than a week because the municipality couldn’t settle the electricity bill before the staff salary run took place, for fear that it wouldn’t have enough funds.

Allegations of corruption in the administration remain rife and the Municipal Manager faces criminal charges of stock theft after he allegedly stole sheep from local farmers.

Against this bleak background, MEC Nqatha’s unwillingness to deal decisively with the collapsing state of IYM is a slap in the face of all our residents. It highlights once again that the ANC provincial administration remains unwilling to intervene and take decisive action to support collapsing municipalities.

There is hope, however. The DA is committed to fight tooth and nail to wrestle this municipality out of the hands of the ANC. The current government in IYM has proved that they do not deserve to govern this municipality as they do not care for the plight of our people.

The DA is currently taking its offer of hope and change to each and every person in Cradock and Middelburg.

When we take over the administration we will:

• Stop corruption;
• Institute a financial turnaround strategy;
• Implement an urgent maintenance plan for infrastructure;
• Fast-track service delivery to all communities;
• Fight to have water and sanitation competency returned to IYM.

The DA will bring change to IYM. Together we can save our municipality, so that all of us can move forward again.

Regards

Cllr Monde Desha
DA Inxuba Yethemba Mayoral Candidate

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Dr Michael Schultz qualified as a general practitioner in 1986 at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. He went on to specialize in ophthalmology at the University of the Free State where he worked as full-time consultant at the Universitas and National Hospitals in Bloemfontein. He started in private practice in Gqeberha at the end of 1994.

Dr Schultz has an active practice in all fields of ophthalmology with special interest in cataract and refractive surgery, diabetic eye disease and glaucoma.

He is a member of the Ophthalmological Society of SA and the Southern African Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and a Founder member of the SA Glaucoma Society.

Dr Schultz is a founder member and current Director of the Eye & Laser Institute in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Dr Schultz also consults in Jeffreys Bay, Cradock and Somerset East in the Eastern Cape.

The above business is in Ward 7, Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay. Ward 7 showcases all businesses within the Ward as a way to ‘hyper localise’ the economy and encourage prosperity in Ward 7. ANY business in Ward 7 may submit their details for free HERE. Support THIS BUSINESS HERE.

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Dear Editor

Millions of Rands have been syphoned off the bankrupt Inxuba Yethemba Municipality (IYM) by means of an unfinished contract to conduct a feasibility study of a landfill site. The contract, which was originally awarded at R6,5 million, eventually nearly doubled in cost and the consultant was paid a whopping R12,3 million – without the project being completed.

IYM has long experienced problems with its landfill site in Cradock. The site has been unsecured for many years and the unlawful burning of waste at the facility has exposed neighbouring residents to poisonous fumes.

Local businesses through the Cradock Business Forum subsequently instituted legal action against the municipality with the court directing that the municipality should comply with the conditions of its waste management licence.

The tender to conduct a feasibility study of the existing landfill site was awarded to 2MC Consultants on the 7th of August 2020. Although a total amount of R12,3 million has already been paid to the consultants, the scope of work remains incomplete as the consultant has never been able to provide the municipality with the required approval from the Department of Water Affairs.

The Democratic Alliance has now referred this matter to the Hawks for investigation and has provided the investigating officer with all the relevant documentation needed to fully investigate the matter. (document attached here and here)

Under a DA government we will ensure that all the money wasted on this fiasco is recuperated.

IYM is broken and bankrupt. The municipality is often unable to deliver the most basic of services. Raw sewage flows in the streets and into our rivers, lack of road maintenance has all but destroyed our road infrastructure and residents are plagued with constant water and electricity outages.

This lack of service delivery has destroyed the local economy, as businesses and residents leave Cradock and Middelburg in search of better prospects elsewhere.

The residents of Inxuba Yethemba Municipality deserve better. That is why the DA is committed to save the residents of this municipality from the inept and corrupt ANC administration that is currently in charge.

In the 2021 Local Government Elections the DA will do everything in its ability to take over governance of this municipality so that we can take Inxuba Yethemba forward again.

Regards

Cllr Monde Desha
DA Mayoral Candidate in the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality

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Dear Editor

In the run-up to the Local Government Elections, it is my pleasure to announce the DA’s Mayoral candidates in three of the Eastern Cape municipalities, outside of Nelson Mandela Bay, which the DA can win.

These three are the DA-run Kouga Municipality, and the Eastern Cape Karoo municipalities of Inxuba Yethemba and Dr Beyers Naude.

We have spent a year on our very thorough candidate selection process and we are confident that our mayoral candidates are the right people to get things done.

1. In the Kouga Municipality, where the DA government has been a beacon of hope for local government in the Eastern Cape since taking over in 2016, our candidate is the current Mayor, Cllr Horatio Hendricks.
2. In the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality, our candidate for Mayor is Cllr Monde Desha who has served as a DA councillor for six years and as caucus leader for five years.
3. In the Dr Beyers Naude Municipality, our candidate is Cllr Ewald Loock who served as Mayor of the erstwhile Baviaans Municipality for 13 years.

The DA is ready to retain a majority to keep making progress in the Kouga Municipality and bring even more prosperity to this region.

We also believe we can win outright majorities in Inxuba Yethemba and Dr Beyers Naude as a result of the complete neglect by the ANC and the work we have done over many years in those municipalities.

Towns like Cradock (Inxuba Yethemba) and Graaff-Reinet (Dr Beyers Naude) used to be the pride of rural Eastern Cape, but decades under an ANC government have seen these towns reduced to rubble and stripped of their former glory.

Residents have become accustomed to raw sewage flowing in the streets, massive potholes, rubbish not being collected and constant water and electricity outages.

The lack of service delivery has destroyed the local economy, and unemployment has sky-rocketed.

But where the DA governs, we get things done, and a prime example of this is the Kouga Municipality.

Some of the successes achieved in Kouga are:

• Kouga passed its first-ever R1 billion budget in 2020.
• 1 596 households have received access to electricity for the first time.
• Africa’s first eco-friendly plastic road was constructed.
• More than 20 000 potholes have been repaired since 2018/19.
• R151,2 million was secured in drought disaster funding.
• 1 827 historic title deeds have been delivered to beneficiaries.
• Kouga is the most financially stable municipality in the Eastern Cape

The DA has a plan to keep making progress in Kouga and save the people of Inxuba Yethemba and Dr Beyers Naude from the corrupt, inept and destructive ANC.

Our candidates and their teams will be out in their communities to share the DA’s message of change and prosperity with the residents of these municipalities.

Because where the DA governs, we get things done.

Regards

Andrew Whitfield, MP
DA Eastern Cape Provincial Chairperson

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Eastern Cape, 31 August 2021: The R93 million special maintenance project on the R75 from Wolwefontein to Jansenville Phase 2 in the Sarah Baartman District Municipality has been completed, according to the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL).

Route R75 is one of the major National Roads within the Eastern Cape that links the coastline with its hinterland.

Twenty-two sub-contractors were engaged, and 300 local labourers worked on the project. The project was completed on 16 August 2021.

“SANRAL is committed to developing small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) on road construction projects,” said Mbulelo Peterson, SANRAL Southern Region Regional Manager.

The scope of work included gravel shoulder construction, in situ recycling sections with emulsion treated base and 10mm Cape Seal to protect the recycled base.

The pre-treatment included rejuvenator fog spray, 50/70 continuously graded base patches with BTB, 50/70 continuously medium graded surface patches, ETB edge break repairs and texture slurry.

Additional work on the project included the new concrete edge beams, subsoil drain cleaning and replacement, building new gabions, erecting new guardrails and fencing, 14mm and 7mm double seal, and retroreflective road marking.

“The upgraded road will reduce commuting time between destinations and there will be road safety improvement for motorists and pedestrians,” said Peterson.

In addition to the special maintenance work on the road, SANRAL implemented some community development projects. The work also included the repair and reseal of the road leading to the Jansenville hospital, the rehabilitation of a landfill site and the erection of a fence and signage to the dumpsite.

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No electricity for the poor so that municipal officials can be paid!

Dear Editor

The residents of Rosmead, a small erstwhile railway village outside Middelburg, have been without electricity for almost a week. This is as a result of the unwillingness of the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality (IYM) to pay monies owed to Transnet for electricity consumption prior to running its payroll, out of fear that there will be insufficient funds to cover salaries for the month of August.

IYM, an Eastern Cape municipality which includes the towns of Cradock and Middelburg, has been experiencing massive financial challenges over the past number of years. The municipality had a negative cash flow at the end of the 2019/20 financial year and is factually bankrupt.

The beleaguered municipality already owes Eskom some R216 million in unpaid electricity charges. Transnet is just another one of its creditors that decided they can no longer bankroll this dysfunctional municipality.

IYM acquired Rosmead from Transnet a couple of years ago but has to date failed to finalise the transfer processes. As a result, Transnet is still responsible for the payment of the electricity account to Eskom.

IYM has to foot the electricity bill as almost all the residents in Rosmead are indigent. Unfortunately, IYM has not been paying Transnet, who is now owed an amount of R740 000 and fed-up with the non-payment by the municipality.

IYM has over the past couple of months struggled to pay the salaries of its officials. Insiders acknowledged that they received strict instructions not to pay any creditors before the payroll run tomorrow, 25 August 2021.

I will now write to the Eastern Cape MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Xolile Nqatha, as well as Transnet, to intervene and alleviate the plight of the long-suffering people of Rosmead.

This is a shocking example of how an ANC-run municipality will put the interest of politicians and officials ahead of the interests of their communities.

The DA can save the residents of the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality from the uncaring and inept ANC that is currently in charge. In 2021 the DA will do everything in its ability to take over governance of this municipality so that we can improve the situation for the residents of Cradock and Middelburg.

Regards

Retief Odendaal, MPL
EC Midlands Constituency Leader

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WILLOWMORE – A suspect aged 26 is expected to appear at Willowmore Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 23 August 2021 following his arrest on Saturday, 21 August 2021 by Graaff Reinet K9 Unit and Cradock Crime Intelligence members in an information driven operation.

It is alleged that on Saturday, 21 August 2021, at about 22.00, upon executing a search warrant at the house in Barend Street, Willowmore, the members recovered 42 Full Mandrax tablets, hidden in a motor vehicle, parked on the property.

The estimated street value of the recovered drugs is R 3 380.00

The suspect was arrested on a charge of possession of drugs and will appear before the Willowmore Magistrate’s Court soon.

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GRAAFF-REINET – Police are investigating two cases of murder involving two males in Santaville during the early hours of this morning.

It is alleged that at about 01:50, the body of Tyrone Ruiters was found in Santaville after he was allegedly stabbed by Indrico Steyn after a heated disagreement.

Ruiters was transported to hospital but succumbed to his injuries. He sustained a stab wound to his chest.

It further alleged that a group of Tyrone’s friends chased after Steyn and stabbed him multiple times. He too, succumbed to his injuries.

The cause of the disagreement and suspects are unknown at this stage. Police investigation continues.

Graaff Reinet Police are appealing to anyone with the information that may assist the detectives in the investigation to contact Detective Warrant Officer Fourie on 082 442 2969, on 049 8076600 or call the Crime Stop number 086 00 10 111. Information received will be treated with strictest confidentiality

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