|
by Ayanda Njemla
05 February 2010
The heads of the State, last week, met in Mthatha at an infrastructure development initiative but surprising enough, the local stakeholders who have an interest in this area’s infrastructure were excluded, raising more questions and assumptions from the community.
KING Sabatha Dalindyebo (KSD) community is hungry for answers especially when it comes to its rotten infrastructure including damaged roads with potholes all over, sewerage spills on the streets due to pipe bursts and manholes without lids, as well as severe water and electricity cuts.
The stadium is also moving at a slow pace and has burst the bubble of hope that locals might benefit from the coming 2010 FIFA World Cup. Even the interim structure for the Mthatha Airport upgrade was shown the door before the meeting proceeded. The meeting, held at Garden Court, Mthatha was chaired by Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kiviet and only included MEC’s and Directors General with the Minister of Public Works Geoff Doidge, Housing MEC Nompumelelo Mabandla, Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Mbulelo Sogoni, MEC for Health Phumulo Masualle, MEC for Public Works Pammy Majodina, MEC for Safety and Liaison Ghishma Barry and Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Scelo Gqobhana.The aircraft carrying Minister of Roads and Transport, Sbu Ndebele, was reported to have struggled to land at Mthatha Airport because of the cloudy weather in the area and had to land in East London, resulting in his absence from the meeting. Ironically, the meeting did not include the Airport upgrade interim structure. Somadoda Fikeni, Chairperson of the Mthatha Airport Upgrade task team, who was not in Mthatha and was not informed about the meeting, believes that they should have been part of the meeting even if he himself was not there, because other members were not let in. “What is there to hide if they have the interests of the people and developing infrastructure in the area at heart and what is it that they have not discussed among themselves about Mthatha?” asked Fikeni, during an exclusive interview. He said that for over three years, the province has been reporting large scale expenditure but up to now, nothing was ever implemented.
The main challenge and concern for the upgrade is the runway upgrade, including the installation of lights and VHF Omni-directional Range Navigator (VOR), a type of radio navigation and calibrated at an airport with a VOR test facility or ILS, a sophisticated beacon identifying suitable weather conditions for landing. According to Fikeni, there has not been any willingness and only Bhisho airport has been upgraded, which is not as busy as Mthatha. “This is the gateway to the Wild Coast, Coffee Bay, Kei Mouth, Nelson Mandela’s home and all the other tourists attractions and when one lands at other airports such as East London or Bisho or Durban, they take more than 3 hours to reach those places but that is not considered and everyone seems to have got their own interests KING Sabatha Dalindyebo (KSD) community is hungry for answers especially when it comes to its rotten infrastructure including damaged roads with potholes all over, sewerage spills on the streets due to pipe bursts and manholes without lids, as well as severe water and electricity cuts.
The stadium is also moving at a slow pace and has burst the bubble of hope that locals might benefit from the coming 2010 FIFA World Cup. Even the interim structure for the Mthatha Airport upgrade was shown the door before the meeting proceeded. The meeting, held at Garden Court, Mthatha was chaired by Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kiviet and only included MEC’s and Directors General with the Minister of Public Works Geoff Doidge, Housing MEC Nompumelelo Mabandla, Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Mbulelo Sogoni, MEC for Health Phumulo Masualle, MEC for Public Works Pammy Majodina, MEC for Safety and Liaison Ghishma Barry and Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Scelo Gqobhana.The aircraft carrying Minister of Roads and Transport, Sbu Ndebele, was reported to have struggled to land at Mthatha Airport because of the cloudy weather in the area and had to land in East London, resulting in his absence from the meeting. Ironically, the meeting did not include the Airport upgrade interim structure. Somadoda Fikeni, Chairperson of the Mthatha Airport Upgrade task team, who was not in Mthatha and was not informed about the meeting, believes that they should have been part of the meeting even if he himself was not there, because other members were not let in. “What is there to hide if they have the interests of the people and developing infrastructure in the area at heart and what is it that they have not discussed among themselves about Mthatha?” asked Fikeni, during an exclusive interview. He said that for over three years, the province has been reporting large scale expenditure but up to now, nothing was ever implemented.
The main challenge and concern for the upgrade is the runway upgrade, including the installation of lights and VHF Omni-directional Range Navigator (VOR), a type of radio navigation and calibrated at an airport with a VOR test facility or ILS, a sophisticated beacon identifying suitable weather conditions for landing. According to Fikeni, there has not been any willingness and only Bhisho airport has been upgraded, which is not as busy as Mthatha. “This is the gateway to the Wild Coast, Coffee Bay, Kei Mouth, Nelson Mandela’s home and all the other tourists attractions and when one lands at other airports such as East London or Bisho or Durban, they take more than 3 hours to reach those places but that is not considered and everyone seems to have got their own interests and different agendas”, lambasted Fikeni.
He added that these MEC’s are busy excluding the public and centralising the development although they are the servants of the very same public and come the elections, they will be seeking support from the people, especially in OR Tambo region, bearing more votes that any other region in the country. |
.jpg)
