The Port Shepstone police station’s leaking roof, lack of working street lights around the station, unavailability of a generator during load shedding and shortage of vehicles due to repair delays have raised serious concerns for the KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN’s) permanent delegates to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
The Parliamentary committee has expressed concerns over slow progress in addressing various administrative issues at the Port Shepstone police station.
On a recent visit to the Port Shepstone police station, the committee said there were still no plans to fix the leaking roof and has since asked the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to fast-track that.
The police station has, in the meantime, been provided with a container to work from.
A new commander for the government garage (Fleet Management) has also been appointed to improve the turnaround time for vehicle repairs.
The delegation, together with its counterparts, members of the KZN Provincial Legislature, decided to use the second day of the Provincial Week programme to follow-up and track the status of issues emanating from the previous Taking Parliament to the People Programme that took place in Ugu District Municipality in November 2022.
The delegation visited the Port Shepstone police station which was identified previously with decaying and crumbling infrastructure which needed to be refurbished.
The station commander told the delegation that in addition to the list of problems facing the station, there were no plans to assist the station to be able to transport detainees to Durban Westville prison.
The Ugu District Municipality, which briefed the delegation on water and sanitation projects and service delivery challenges, said there was slow progress in addressing water challenges, and that the municipality paid exorbitant prices for borehole installations, which did not provide water.
The delegation was told that in the last visit of the NCOP to the province, the Minister of the Department of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, committed an additional R150 million towards Water Services Infrastructure Grant Funding for the 2022/23 financial year to Ugu District Municipality.
The Water Services Infrastructure Grant was used to implement projects such as, refurbishment of bulk meters and chamber valves across the district, emergency boreholes programme, refurbishment of mechanical and electrical infrastructure and a borehole management system.
However, the delegation found that the exorbitant budget amount allocated for the borehole project was roughly R800,000 per borehole, which is more than the usual estimated amount of R50,000 to R100,000.
The delegation also felt that the revenue debtor write-offs need to be guided by a legislation and due processes.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
IOL