Durban — The KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Sipho Hlomuka, led a high-level team to restore law and order in the area of Nkandla.
The visit on Friday followed days of violent public protests which led to the virtual shutdown of the Nkandla central business district.
Schools have been disrupted, movement of people affected and individual properties damaged.
Hlomuka convened a meeting with stakeholders including the representatives of King Cetshwayo District, Nkandla Local Municipality, local traditional leadership and various security structures.
He also engaged with the protesting community members.
During the engagement, the department tabled a comprehensive infrastructure report which detailed plans of fixing and upgrading roads in Nkandla.
The department said that on some of the projects, professional engineers had already been appointed and work had commenced.
“The department also briefed the community on the plans to fast track the appointment of contractors working with other state entities such as (the) Independent Development Trust (IDT) and Sanral. As part of improving the gravel road network, the department will once again redeploy internal teams (Personnel and Equipment) to repair and improve gravel access roads,” read the department statement.
Addressing community members, Hlomuka reaffirmed the government's commitment to improving and maintaining the provincial road network.
“We have been briefed in detail by the department on the plans of fixing all the affected roads in this area. As engineers have commenced, ours is to make sure that we do not delay the appointment of contractors to start the actual repair of the roads.
“To some, we will have to source external contractors, but others will be done using our internal capacity as the department. Working together with various stakeholders including Amakhosi, we will sharpen our monitoring mechanism to ensure effective project implementation” said Hlomuka.
Hlomuka appealed to protesting community members to end the protest action and reopen the town to economic activity.
He also condemned incidents of violence and the torching of properties including a mobile ambulance. There is currently heavy police presence in the area who are monitoring the situation.
Daily News