Residents of Ntlangano village at Ndungu Administrative Area near Ntabankulu in the Eastern Cape say they don’t regret their decision not to vote on Election Day.
More than 500 eligible voters boycotted the polls, citing lack of basic services like water, electricity and poor road infrastructure.
A more than 30 km gravel road from Nodali junction to Ntlangano is what angers the community the most.
Residents believe the road condition makes it harder for services to reach their area.
“We don’t have clinics here. People die before they get help due to the condition of the road. We sometimes carry dead bodies on our shoulders and climb that hill in order to get them to mortuaries,” says a resident.
“Our complaints here are the roads, toilets, electricity and water. When they start a project they do not finish. They must listen to us. So by not voting we were highlighting our plight,” adds another resident.
A member of the Ntabankulu mayoral committee responsible for Budget and Treasury, Nomaindia Mbonomtsha concedes that the municipality has failed the residents. However, she accuses the residents of vandalizing government resources.
“There are toilets here but they did not finish the toilets. We are going to ask the district municipality to finish those toilets. The access road, we have appointed the service provider but didn’t work like as we want so we terminated his contract. We are electrifying in those villages, when we finish other villages, we are going come and electrify this village. We don’t like this. That’s why we’re prepared to make a plan. Those people, it’s our people. It’s members of the ANC. We know that we did not make things well.”
