The Mayor of the Dawid Kruiper Municipality in the Northern Cape Michael Segede says they are trying their utmost to eradicate the bucket system in ward six and ward thirteen in Upington.
This as President Cyril Ramaphosa is leading the second day of the fifth Presidential Imbizo in the province on Friday, under the theme “Leave No One Behind”.
The President has held Imbizos in various provinces since announcing his intention to investigate service delivery issues. He will engage residents of the Dawid Kruiper Municipality.
Segede says the Northern Cape is among the provinces still plagued by inadequate sanitation and high numbers of bucket toilets, a challenge they hope to address.
“When we give people plots to build shacks, we don’t have toilets, we assist them with buckets. The municipality also encourages communities to build toilets. We’ve put up plans to build toilets for free so they can build for themselves in the meantime. It’s our way of trying to eradicate the bucket system. I have a vision of trying to assist our communities, we know that in the municipal environment, we depend on communities to pay for services and if there is nonpayment, there’s a problem to render services. But when the community pays then we can assist them. But my main aim is to help the people and so that when I leave office, they’ll know this person has done his best to assist the communities.”
In conversation with Mayor Segede:
Municipalities have administrative challenges
Northern Cape Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs MEC Bentley Vass has admitted that many municipalities in the province are still facing administration challenges.
Vass was speaking on the sidelines of the Imbizo in Upington.
He says some municipalities cannot even pay Eskom’s electricity bills. He says the department is assisting those municipalities.
“We know that our municipalities are facing serious challenges, that is why we had engagements with municipalities last week, I met all mayors, speakers and municipal managers to address issues of service delivery. For us, it is important to stabilise our municipalities making sure that they are in better state.”
