Poor service delivery in Empumelelweni

Community alerts, Mpumalanga, Empumelelweni, Musa Dlamini, 2018/09/30
Poor service delivery in Empumelelweni
In Emalahleni at Empumelelweni is an informal settlement. Our roads are not tarred they are sloppy and “gedukile “.This “geduka ” it is caused by heavy rains. We use rocks and waste to close the holes. We are scared that if we leave the roads not closed it could cause soil erosion.
Our municipality is failing us with service delivery,does not provide us with waste trucks,we don’t have storm drains. This leads the community throwing waste into the holes and this causes the soil to be contaminated.
Another thing is that our municipality in the department of environment and waste does not do anything about teaching the community about the impacts of throwing waste near their houses and the consequences they might experience or suffer from if they continue doing such.
When we approach the rainy seasons the waste gets washed off to the nearest “isiyalo”. The people living near the “isiyalo ” rely on it and also when we don’t have water ,we also fetch water there . Our municipality does not even send water trucks when water is gone.
The waste that is being washed off to the water it decomposes and also this waste that does not decompose it becomes a great threat to animals and plants. We have livestock that depend on that water ,sometimes you find the animals eating the waste that is being washed off. If our municipality does not do anything about this it could lead to people creating more illegal dumping.
This can have an impact on our health, the soil would be polluted and when it is hot the waste evaporates and creates a bad odour. When it is windy the wind blows the polluted soil and we breath that air.