Keiskammahoek fires ‘will burn until Cyril comes’
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa will have to visit before the fires burning in Keiskammahoek over service delivery failure are extinguished, community leaders vowed yesterday.
The president is out of the country at the moment, attending a gathering of heads of state in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Yesterday members of the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) used burning tyres and bricks to blockade the main road leading into and out of the town.
About 600 community members were singing struggle songs when the Daily Dispatch arrived.
Sanco chairman in the area Gugulethu Siwendu said the state had failed to respond to a petition accepted last month by cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Fikile Xasa.
Siwendu said the community demanded:
● A road from Middledrift to Keiskammahoek and from Keiskammahoek to Stutterheim;
● Provision of scholar transport;
● Refurbishment of the taxi rank;
● Construction of access and internal roads;
● A fire station closer to the small town as the nearest were in Dimbaza and Stutterheim;
● Rectification of RDP houses in Masincedane and Sophumelela; and
● A new hospital. Siwendu said the department of health was planning on decreasing the number of beds at the local SS Gida Hospital from 122 to 62.
“Furthermore, this hospital is a prefabricated structure with rain coming in through the roof.”
Health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said while the number of beds did not affect the quality of service, R42million had been earmarked for refurbishment of the hospital, and procurement processes were already under way.
Siwendu said the town was dark in the evenings as there were no street lights and this facilitated rapes, murders and robberies.
He said a sports field and a youth development centre would help keep young people off the streets.
“The provincial government has failed us and now we pin our hopes on the national government,” he added.
“President Ramaphosa must come and address us or we will continue with this strike. We are still trying to engage with his office and after that we will give him a time frame.”
Provincial government spokesman Sonwabo Mbananga had not responded to e-mailed questions at the time of deadline.
The closed road caused havoc for many users. Said Percy Makolwana: “We have been waiting here for over four hours. We are visiting a relative who is in hospital and we are from Middledrift.
“We have heard he was discharged and if we are can’t go through we will have to go back without him.” —