DURBAN - Litter is piling up on the streets of Mtubatuba and residents of the northern KwaZulu-Natal town want it cleaned urgently.
Business owners have called for an urgent intervention from higher authorities, said resident Merle Rautenbach.
She explained that domestic litter and the refuse collection has not been picked up in two weeks and were piling up on the streets.
She said wastewater leaks were not attended to leaving some streets with sewage water overflowing, and they were now fed up with “in-house“ fighting in the municipality.
“We have to pay our rates in full despite this pathetic service. The city workers still get their full pay regardless of the circumstances,” she said.
Mtubatuba Local Municipality is one of five within the uMkhanyakude District Municipality. Mtubatuba forms the southern end of uMkhanyakude District, with the N2 almost dividing the municipality into Mtubatuba east and west.
“The council doors have been closed for a month. At their meetings, they fight like small children that is why they do not get anything resolved,” Rautenbach said.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) local leader Killer Mkhwanazi said a new acting manager was expected to be appointed on Friday at a council meeting.
He said there were disagreements between officials in the Mtubatuba District following the appointment of acting manager Thami Xulu on January 12, 2022.
He said the matter had been before the court and this affected the city’s services as well as the manager’s post.
The court took a decision that the IFP held election was invalid.
Since then, the district has been without manager. He said the city employees demanded to see the manager for their own grievances.
The IFP had officially taken over the Mtubatuba Local Municipality from the ANC through a vote of no confidence.
The special council meeting sat on Wednesday and the IFP leadership that was elected, set-aside on January 12, was re-elected.
During the meeting, the IFP’s Mxolisi Mthethwa returned as mayor while the EFF’s Nothile Mthethwa and the IFP’s Sibongile Mthethwa also returned as deputy mayor and speaker respectively.
The council was without “properly” elected leadership since the local government elections in November as both parties had been in and out of court in a bid to control the municipality.
Daily News