MEC Belinda Scott on unserviced areas and high-level government intervention during operation Sukuma Sakhe

MEC Scott expresses her concerns over unserviced area, pledges high-level government intervention during operation Sukuma Sakhe

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance, Belinda Scott, who is also the uMgungundlovu District Political Champion has warned that taking government service only to affluent areas and leaving out areas like KwaJika Joe in Msunduzi Municipality behind was a cause for concern.

While pledging a decisive government intervention Scott expressed her concerns to local Councillor Nkululeko Mkhize during a community engagement in Sobantu where she addressed throngs of residents from Ward 33 and Ward 35.

Scott’s visit to Sobantu and KwaJika Joe, downtown Pietermaritzburg, formed part of the Cabinet Operation Sukuma Sakhe programme on Wednesday, 26 September 2018.

Among the five areas under Ward 33, KwaJika Joe (which is mostly made up of informal settlements) is the poorest and least serviced.

“Councillor, you must not prioritise only those areas that are affluent,” said Scott.

The MEC expressed her disappointment with the lack of services that continue to beset KwaJika Joe which has endemic challenges including social ills, litter, non-removal of refuse, lack of water and electric supply, educational and health facilities.

Scott said she did not want to come to KwaJika Joe again and be confronted with the same situation. She said she was now taking the issue to a higher level.

“We need to develop this area and it’s urgent. I am looking at forming a high-level task team comprising of health, education, social development municipality and Home Affairs. There’s a huge problem here and we really need to improve the quality of life,” she said.

Scott was worried about housing issues as well especially foreign nationals who could not get on the housing house list. She was also worried about young mothers who come from rural areas and who are prostituting themselves in order to feed their children.

“If they go to school they will go hungry,” she said.

Scott was however proud of the many successes of Operation Sukuma Sakhe which has seen many war room stabilised in the district and functioning at an optimal level.

UMgungundlovu District, has seen various MEC’s, Premier and Heads of Departments rolling up their sleeves to clean dirty streets and illegal dumpsites in the townships, inspecting communal gardens, and the checking progress on various infrastructure work that is underway in many of the communities visited.