Ntabankulu villagers say President Cyril Ramaphosa’s opening-of-parliament promises to end poverty, unemployment and inequality should start with them.
They say that since the municipality was declared the poorest in the country in 2015, there have been few interventions to improve their lives.
The Dispatch visited some of the municipality’s villages last week to hear residents’ complaints about high unemployment and poverty.
Mayor Tsileng Sobuthongo said: “There are service delivery challenges, there are high poverty levels and a high unemployment rate.”
Villagers said they wanted to see change.
In Ndakeni village, just outside the town of Ntabankulu, residents complained about water.
After villagers protested a few years ago, the stream which they shared with animals was fenced and a pump was installed to lead the water to a tank.
But village taps are dry, and the elderly hire people who use donkeys to cart water from a stream.
Vuyiswa Sapulana said she could not remember the last time their taps had water
Villagers shared the stream with people from nearby Jiliza village.
“Sometimes the water gets finished and we have to walk long distances to fetch water.”
Luvo Myalwana of Ndakeni said he and a friend carted water to villagers.
“On average, I make 12 loads a day ,” he said.
Sobuthongo admitted that the municipality had a water challenge.
“When people face such issues they protest here and we always escalate such complaints to the district municipality.”
She said there had been a meeting with former water and sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu where a commitment of R30m had been made to deal with the issue of sources and poor maintenance of schemes.
Sobuthongo said they were looking forward to the construction of the Umvimvubu Water Project as they believed it would address some of the water source issues.
In the nearby village of Mhlonyaneni, residents complained about water and housing issues.
Water tanks that were installed after intervention by premier Oscar Mabuyane in 2022 stand empty.
Sokotshe said Mabuyane had visited their village in 2022 after he was called by community members.
“He instructed the municipality to give us communal water tanks and bring water twice a week, but it has been a while since they brought water,” she said.
The Dispatch saw at least five water tanks in the village. They were all empty.
Another villager, Lungeleni Mqayi, said she lived with her daughter and two grandchildren. Her home is two thatched rondavels made from mud bricks.
She said the situation was bad on rainy days.
“They leak and we have to move the bed around,” she said.
The Manxudebe and Ndile villages on the other side of the town have their fair share of challenges.
Ward committee member Nokonwaba Maphungo said the road leading to the village was in a bad state and they did not have water.
Maphungo said water taps in her village were dry and there were poverty and unemployment issues.
She said their situation was getting worse.
“People have been registering, but not a single RDP house was ever built here,” she said.
She said she wished Mabuyane would say when they could expect all the necessary services in the village.
People staying in rural areas like ours also deserve better. We feel we are being neglected and services are taken to the villages closer to town
“People staying in rural areas like ours also deserve better. We feel we are being neglected and services are taken to the villages closer to town,” she said.
Community leader Mziwonakele Nomanzoyiya, 77, said their attempts to raise their issues with authorities fell on deaf ears.
“We don’t know what to do any more,’ he said.
Sobuthongo said the municipality had no revenue and depended on grants.
“I am happy that the president spoke about changing the funding model for municipalities.
“It is something that has always been a stumbling block because we are a municipality that is grant dependent with no financial base that is enough for us to address the issues of service delivery.
“When the funding is being discussed at least we hope and believe that municipalities like Ntabankulu should be at the centre of the agenda and the funding should also take into consideration the backlogs,” she said.
When asked if she had ever officially escalated the matter of being a poor municipality to the provincial and national governments, she said: “We always escalate these matters on each and every platform that we get.”
Sobuthongo said the provincial and national governments were aware of their plight and were committed to changing things.
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