Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana has promised the Makana community that the municipality will focus on service delivery this year.
Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana has promised the Makana community that the municipality will focus on service delivery this year.
Lwana delivered his state-of-the-municipality address at the Recreation Hall on Friday, which coincided with the launch of the new Makana Municipality logo and brand.
The mayor touched on a number of crucial service delivery related issues, such as the installation of water borne toilets in areas that still use the bucket toilet system and ventilation improved pit (Vip) toilets.
He said the municipality will be phasing out Vip toilets because the soil in Makana contains a lot of clay which is not conducive to the wind-operated Vip system.
According to Cemforce, a sanitation company, Vip toilets are similar to ordinary pit latrines where a natural breakdown through bacteria occurs.
An external ventilation pipe draws air through the toilet when the wind blows to keep it free of odours. Lwana assured the audience that the phasing out process will begin in Hlalani township. He also said that the KwaNdancama housing project will resume soon.
The project was called to a halt two years ago after human remains were discovered in the area. The bones have since been buried in a mass grave near Luvuyo Hall.
The mayor also announced that the Transit Camp housing project would begin in two weeks’ time. “The Transit Camp houses would have been built last year but we delayed it because we wanted to be treated the same way as coastal areas, to be tiled, plastered and ceiling boards [installed],” he said.
One of the regulations of the Southern Cape Coastal Condensation Problem Area (SCCCA) is that the municipalities of coastal areas should build tiled, plastered houses with ceiling boards to prevent damp. Inland municipalities do not have this privilege.
“We managed to convince the Department of Housing to allow us to build houses of good quality like [in the]coastal areas. I am happy to say that the new housing projects will have structures of good quality,” said Lwana.
