Now is the time for Empangeni residents to take a stand

NOW is the opportunity for Empangeni residents in Ward 23 to speak out and voice their concerns on issues plaguing their residential areas by attending a special public meeting this week.

Ward Councillor Andre de Lange told the Zululand Observer he is creating the platform for residents to interact with various deputy municipal managers (DMM) and other municipal representatives.

‘We currently have 182 members on our WhatsApp group and I urge everybody to come out on Wednesday at 6pm at the Empangeni Civic Centre to take a stand,’ said De Lange.

‘I have emailed and invited DMMs from community services, the electrical department, integrated development planning and finance to attend our meeting.

‘We are looking at raising our issues and concerns about road maintenance, public parks use and maintenance, as well as traffic flow and basic road rules.’

The call for this meeting follows a flurry of complaints from local ratepayers during the past few months over issues ranging from public drinking, urination in public, littering in open spaces and parks, to poor road infrastructure, absence of speed humps and traffic lights, and the skipping of red traffic lights.

Fed-up residents are demanding answers from municipal authorities over the deteriorating condition of Empangeni and poor service delivery.

‘Our aim is to allow the public to list the issues we can present to the municipality within the next month, giving them a deadline to provide solutions.’

Despite numerous calls for the installment of robots and much-needed traffic calming measures, yet another accident took place at the intersection between Main Road and Higgs Road/Frank Bull in Empangeni early on Tuesday morning.

According to eyewitnesses a car skipped the red traffic light and T-boned another vehicle.

Occupants of both vehicles were taken to nearby hospitals and treated for minor injuries.

Residents are left questioning why there are no proper speed humps at such high accident zones where speeding road offenders have for years skipped red robots, placing the lives of innocent motorists at risk.