President Cyril Ramaphosa hears of neglect during imbizo in rural KZN

President Cyril Ramaphosa and cabinet ministers were peppered with complaints about neglect, poverty, unemployment and lack of basic services such as water when they attended an imbizo in Uthukela, KwaZulu-Natal, this week.

The gathering on Friday was intended to enable direct engagement between the government and the community.

Lack of water supplies figured high on the list of problems besetting several communities across the district and Ramaphosa asked water & sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu to respond.

Mchunu said the national government had been working with the district municipality since last year to identify urgent water and sewerage problems. 

“We came up with a plan to say we will work with Cogta [provincial department of co-operative governance & traditional affairs] because this water issue is a municipal issue — we are installing boreholes in various wards, we are adding more in other areas and we are dealing with issues where reservoirs are the main problem in water access,” he said.

Ramaphosa praised the collaboration between municipalities and provincial and national governments.

“Government starts in Pretoria. We have to co-operate with provincial and local governments because sometimes money is sent back due to lack of capacity at local level, disrupting progress for delivery of services,” he said.

The district is largely rural and the need to travel long distances to clinics, schools and jobs was raised as another problem.

Minister of public works & infrastructure Sihle Zikalala said the government had launched projects in Uthukela and jobs would be created  through the expanded public works programme (EPWP).

Minister of electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said while the government has “brought load-shedding down to levels that are bearable”, his department was working with Eskom to support small villages with fewer  than 200 households.

“We will be rolling out solar PV to communities that are not connected to the grid, our solutions are not just for those connected to the grid,” he said.

Health minister Joe Phaahla said the government would assess the workload of mobile clinics to determine where more clinics should be built. The existing local clinic had been earmarked for expansion.

Human settlements minister Mmamoloko Kubayi promised that the replacement of mud houses would be accelerated, as would the provision of housing for those displaced by natural disasters. 

Community members at the imbizo urged the government to extend the R350 social distress grant and increase the amount.

“I know you want the money to go up, you want it not to be closed in February,” Ramaphosa responded. “I've heard you. Now we are going to deliberate on whether we can extend its lifespan and if we can increase it.”

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