Matatiele Local Municipality has come out to apologise for the filth that the residents of this once beautiful town find themselves subjected to of late. Municipal Spokesperson, Luxolo Walaza has since issued a statement regretting the unappealing conditions people are subjected to including broken drains, potholes that are all over the town and the issue of cutting grass.
“The municipality would like to apologise unconditionally and regrets that our residents would continue leaving in situations like these in this democratic dispensation. Even former Mayor Cllr Momelezi Mbedla during his farewell speech said that the municipality must make sure that our residential areas are clean at all times. Therefore the Municipality needs to deal with the issue of cutting grass, trees opening up of drains, filling of potholes and waste removal so that residents can stay in a clean and healthy environment. We are still committed and we will strive to make sure that those priorities are dealt with so that we give our residents a better place to stay,” said Walaza
This is after a sent by a local resident to the informer went viral on Friday afternoon. The video shows dirty water running down the streets of Matatiele. It also shows huge potholes in the streets of Matatiele.
Hundreds of residents in Matatiele have been complaining about the dreary state of the town even before the elections that were recently held on Monday.
Responding to the filthy water that was running on the streets Walaza said they have discovered that the water was coming from the water treatment works blocking the drains. “We have discussed the matter with the Alfred Nzo District Municipality that whenever they are doing water treatment they can notify us so that we direct that water to unblocked drains. It is not good for our people to see or to jump in such kinds of dirty water,” he said
With regards to potholes, Walaza agreed that the condition of Matatiele streets is concerning and unacceptable due to potholes. “We have got a long and short term programme to deal with this matter. The short term is that of utilising our in house and operations and maintenance section to fill up the potholes around town. A long term plan is to issue out a tender which now is at an evaluation level where the service provider is going to be appointed soon to reseal 2,5 KM of roads in town.
