The Rep 15 October 2021

4 Tel: (045) 839-4040 / editorial: mjekulal@therep.co.za / advertising: charodinev@therep.co.za 15 October 2021 THE R E P R ES E N TAT I V E
There is ‘no service delivery in Ilinge’
Residents suffering with no jobs, little water supply, bad roads, piles of rubbish everywhere, crime
LUVUYO MJEKULA
LONG WAIT: Unemployed residents of Ilinge queue at the local post office for the government’s Covid-19 social relief of distress grant to help put food on
the table as poverty, joblessness and poor service delivery hit them hard Picture: LUVUYO MJEKULA
Impoverished residents of Ilinge
hope for a better life after the local
government elections in two weeks’
time.
Top of the residents’ wish list are
basic services – water, proper
sanitation, a reliable electricity supply
and jobs.
“There is no service delivery in
Ilinge.
“We do not have a municipality, we
do not even have a municipal office
here.
“We do not see the municipality
cleaning here, but they say there is a
m u n i c i p a l i t y,” said a visibly frustrated
local businessman, Andile Gezana.
He also lamented the high rate of
unemployment in the area.
When The Rep visited the location,
which is about 15km out of Komani
towards East London, on Wednesday,
dozens of locals were queuing outside
the post office to access the
g ove r n m e n t ’s Covid-19 social relief of
distress grant of R350.
Lulama Wana said the grant
brought little to no relief at all.
“[The grant] only pays for electricity,
mielie meal and meat so that we can at
least eat.”
Wana, 59, and many other residents
had been queuing since the early hours
of the morning and were not sure they
would get the money by the end of the
d ay.
“We want change in Ilinge so that
our children are able to work.
“Our children finished school and
did courses but never got work.
“We are poor, we do not have water
and we do not have houses.
“We are hungry in Ilinge, I am
hungry as I am talking to you,” she
exclaimed.
According to Wana, not even food
parcels reached needy residents.
“They are given to friends and
relatives [of those in power].”
She also said recent jobs to dispense
sanitiser at schools were given to family
members.
Gezana echoed these sentiments.
“There is no work in Ilinge, the jobs
that are available are given to those
UNHYGIENIC SITUATION: Pools of smelly water like
this are not uncommon in Ilinge and fed up residents say
they want change in the way the municipality responds
to queries
OWN INITIATIVE: These Ilinge teenagers have taken it
upon themselves to fill potholes with soil to help save
vehicles from damage, while making pocket money for
their efforts Pictures: LUVUYO MJEKULA
connected to the leaders. They have
their own people and they give each
other work behind closed doors.”
Another resident, Lulamile Skade,
of Zwide, said: “There is no work.
People survive on the R350, if it was
not for that money, we would have
starved to death.
“It would be best if the new
councillor would make things better –
we want jobs, for the streets to be fixed
and poverty to end.” But Gezana said
lack of water was the main problem in
Ilinge.
He said water was available once a
week.
“There is no water as we speak. We
get water once a week and sometimes
we go three months without water.
“There is also no one cleaning the
area. There is rubbish all over the
p l a c e .”
GOING TO WASTE: Some community members are
calling for action to save this deteriorating local stadium
that is falling prey to ongoing vandalism
BAD ROADS: The poor state of roads in Ilinge makes
driving a nightmare and hits motorists hard in the pocket
Gezana did not have much hope in
the next leaders’ capabilities.
A resident who asked not to be
named agreed the major challenge was
wa t e r.
“People here are unemployed and
their survival is planting at home, but
without water, they have no way of
making a living.
“There is nothing you can do
without water.”
SEWER WOES: Twedi Blom, 81, of
Four Rooms in Ilinge, says sewer
blockages are a regular occurrence in
the area, causing an unbearable
stench and health problems
A 56-year-old resident of Jamestown
said she was diagnosed with
pneumonia because of water from a
municipal water line flooding her yard.
She had reported the problem but to
no avail.
“In Ilinge we live in sewage,” she
lamented.
Bad roads, dirty streets, crime, and
poor quality RDP houses were also
some of the residents’ g r i e va n c e s .
“This [main] road has been fixed for
so many years, I think millions of rand
must have been spent on it.
“The street lights do not come on at
night and that gives opportunity to
c r i m i n a l s ,” said Samuel Komanisi, 73.
“Just last month a home for the
elderly, situated opposite the local
police station, was broken into and
groceries stolen.”
However, Nomzamo Mnqayi, a
resident of Ekuphumleni, said she was
happy after the government moved her
from a shack into a RDP house a few
years ago.