I was intrigued by the article “A failed state” in the VrystaatKroon paper dated 8 March, which pointed out not only the many failings of the Moqhaka Municipality with regard to service delivery, but also the huge debt owed to Eskom.
My wife and I moved from Durban to Kroonstad in September 2009. During the latter part of our stay in Durban I was very involved in the community policing forum (CPF) and neighbourhood watch in the Morningside area, and I must commend the excellent work being carried out by the Kroonstad Neighbourhood Watch (KBW).
We bought a house in Donges Street, which we had refurbished, and were settling down to our new life in Kroonstad.
I noticed that the general condition of the roads in Kroonstad was appalling. On the few occasions that they were repaired, the methodology used was not only improper, but money was being wasted.
In 2011 our grandson, who had a small business in Kroonstad, and a young engineer friend made an appointment for us to see the municipal manager, Mr Simon Mqwathi. During our discussions on 13 April 2011, I pointed out that I could save the municipality money and offered my services, free of charge, to train a small crew on how potholes should be filled.
Mqwathi seemed to be very interested in what I had presented to the meeting and asked for a copy of my CV, which I emailed to him on 6 May 2011.
I had previously worked for a company that supplied products to the then Natal Roads Department, so I knew a little about the subject in question.
To this day, I have not even received an acknowledgment of receipt of my email.
So be it. Getting back to the article in VrystaatKroon, I seem to remember a similar article in the Kroonnuus some years ago when the municipality owed Eskom approximately R200 million, and the writer gave a detailed outline of the monthly payments that the municipality had agreed it would make to Eskom to drastically reduce this outstanding debt. So what happened?
The real surprise to me, however, is how Eskom could have allowed this debt to escalate to the figure of R900 million? I suppose with the chaos going on there it should not be surprising. When we have a president who is obligated to set the example of good governance openly stating that his first priority is to unite the ANC, is it any wonder that service delivery at municipal level is non-existent?
