“The smell is unbearable,” were the words of DA contester Simon Skhosana.
“It flows like this all the time and people have learnt to live with it,” he said.
Skhosana is contesting the by-elections in the Mpumalanga area of Delpark and Malita’s ward 6 in Delmas following the resignation of ANC councillor Maria Spengane.
Spengane had been asked to quit by the ANC after community members complained that the selection process that led to her being a ward councillor candidate was manipulated by senior regional leaders.
A month ago the sub-regional body of the Independent Electoral Commission in the Victor Khanye municipality declared Spengane’s post vacant and announced the date of 9 November 2016 as the date of the by-elections.
Both Skhosana and provincial chairwoman Jane Sithole are busy in the area, doing door-to-door campaigns, preparing for 9 November and Sithole herself told 013NEWS on Thursday afternoon that they have heard many issues from community members, including youth unemployment, crime and poor service delivery.
“We are actually on the ground speaking to people, on a door-to-door campaign and really I must say it’s amazing that the sewage is flowing on the street like that. The issue of water has been raised to us by community members, mainly on our campaign we focus on service delivery.
“We ask the community members to vote for Skhosana and that even if he doesn’t win but they will have a representative in the council,” she said.
She said for many months the community members have been complaining about the spew of poo in Malita and “we are definitely going to focus on the sewage.”
“It’s been flowing for months, people reported it but nothing was done,” Sithole, who is also the shadow health MEC in the province, said.
Attempts to speak to Victor Khanye mayor failed.
(edited by ZK)
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