MORE than 80 Sweetwaters residents who are members of the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) took their frustration over service delivery to the streets with a peaceful march to the ANC provincial headquarters in King William’s Town on Monday October 08.
The group of frustrated residents gathered opposite the department of social development provincial offices before starting their march through Hargreaves Avenue to Calata House.
They handed over a memorandum and gave the provincial office seven days to respond to their demands.
Picture: DESMOND COETZEE
Sanco leader David Ngalo said they had had enough of poor service delivery in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality’s (BCMM) Ward 44. They had taken the initiative as Sweetwaters Sanco sub-branch to lead the march in support of other areas in the ward.
“We have had numerous meetings with our community and also with representatives of the other communities within our ward and collectively decided to take this action,” Ngalo said.
“We all are facing the same challenges and our attempts to get the necessary attention from the authorities and ward councillor were all fruitless.”
The memorandum was directed to ANC provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane but was received and signed by Mcedisi Nontsele who is an additional member on the provincial structure and deployed in the Dr WB Rubusana Region (BCM).
“The purpose of this peaceful march is to highlight the frustration communities are experiencing within the ward which is Acorn Valley, Breidbach, Sweetwaters, Siyathemba, Tshatshu and Qalashe as well as the surrounding farms, who have sent all representatives in solidary today,” said Ngalo.
Nontsele commended the crowd for their discipline and made a promise to respond to their demands in a meeting the following evening. Attempts to get comment from Ntsasela failed after numerous calls made to her mobile.
