NPO leads petition against Amathole municipality as mayor remains silent on water issues

Communities under the Amathole District Municipality say they have spent almost a month without water and their Mayor Nceba Ndikinda has been mum about these challenges they face.

The residents have further raised concern over the mayor’s integrity after he was found to have allegedly unlawfully hired municipal manager Thandekile Mnyimba who reportedly did not have even a matric certificate.

The matter of the Amathole district’s former municipal manager has been set aside by the court after he had just been appointed for a new five-year term in office. His appointment was challenged by labour unions and opposition parties within the Amathole council and ended up in court.

The ANC-led cash-strapped municipality in recent weeks revealed that about R300 million has been allocated for service delivery in the 2022/23 financial year. However, communities are still complaining about the same issues such as water and sanitation provision.

An organization representing occupants in the municipality – Equality Collective says the mayor has been very poor in his response to matters brought forward by the community since he took office last year.

Equality Collective has decided to lead a petition against the municipality as communities demand a transparent process in the employment of a new qualified municipal manager, and the prioritization of service delivery.

“What we’re seeing is generally a decline in maintenance of capital infrastructure and poor investment in operations and maintenance over the last years,” said the NPO’s Tess Peacock.

In his response, the mayor has disputed receiving the petition and further declined to comment on the service delivery issues raised by the community.

-EWN

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