CRITICAL ISSUES OF POOR SERVICE DELIVERY IN OUR COMMUNITY

okuphumla Phongoma

In South Africa today we see a lot of protests due to poor service delivery, people are dissatisfied with poor service delivery. This is particularly on basic services such as water, water shortage is a big problem in poor communities where more than ten people use one toilet. Not having water for five hours is a is a nightmare in this situation. The municipality doesn’t even give notice of water cuts to poor communities, that means they only find out when they open the taps that there’s no water.

Another burning issue in our country is load shedding. As South Africans we’re used to not having electricity for hours, and those who can afford alternatives buy gas while others install solar panels as backup and others buy generators.

The working class communities suffer most because for them having no electricity means going out and gathering fire wood, to make fire so they can cook and boil water to bath. They must have candles to have light at night and are forced to go to bed in cold houses.

It is sad and disheartening to find that in our country today we still have people who live in shacks with no water borne toilets. We still have communities with bursting toilet pipes and they have to live with sewage in their properties for weeks with no help. Even when the matter has been reported with a reference number to prove, our municipality will still take time to help.

We know that corruption is endemic in our country and is one of the reasons we’re going through so much as a country, poor people are suffering as a result. Government officials need to be held accountable for their actions

We need a better and bright future for our kids, and if things don’t change we have no future in our own country. What is going to happen to our kids when they grow up, are they also going to suffer like us. The question we should ask ourselves is “what have we done in our time to bring change in our land”.