By Palesa Mofoti
Service delivery demonstrations this week rocked Jacksonville near Roodepan township outside Kimberley as residents vented about their appalling living conditions.
In protests that ran over a two-day period the residents demonstrated along the Midlands Road leading into the Jacksonville-Roodepan area. They closed the road off to stop any commute in and out of the area.
Members of the community expressed their dissatisfaction and disappointment in the municipality of Sol Plaatje on how they are neglected regarding their constitutional right to service delivery to satisfy their basic needs.
Neo Makhurumenza, a resident of Jacksonvile for nine years, expressed how the sewage spills have been major problem in the area. He claimed that the community have liaised intensely with the municipality for many years to get the issues fixed, however they (SPM) just come and check and leave, he stated.
Due to the dire health hazards posed by the sewer spills residents of Jacksonvile donated money and personally purchased thirteen pipes to divert the sewer effluent to flow from out of their yards.
Sophie de Vos, whose sewer spill is just by her kitchen door, expressed how sad she is with this entire problem: ‘This issue is a terrible problem. My asthma is chronic because of the stench. At night it’s even worse. I can’t sometimes breathe. I can’t eat because of the smell, she said’.
Residents also expressed their frustration at the lack of visibility of the local councilor Robert Kok, ‘When we call him, he doesn’t come. When we raise service delivery issues with him, he doesn’t avail himself’, Makhurumenza added.
Prior to the demonstrations in that area this month, the Sol Plaatje municipality’s executive mayor Kagisho Sonyoni had given the residents the assurance that the problems will be fixed and that he would return to Jacksonville on the 11 October. The mayor specifically pledged to hear the pleas of the residents and to see in what best way the issues can be resolved.
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