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Half of Mthatha's buildings not safety compliant, crisis meeting hears

Under-fire King Sabata Dalindyebo municipal bosses have admitted that 50% of the buildings in Mthatha were not compliant with health and safety regulations and standards. And despite several buildings going up in smoke under mysterious circumstances since 2021, the municipality has also admitted it does not have a bylaw on fire prevention.

King-sabata-dalindyebo , Comment-policy , Buildings , Mthatha , Nyaniso-nelani , Ksd , Sabata-dalindyebo , Superspar , Zolisa-madikizela , Elphil-properties , Vuyisile-ntlabati

Buffalo City Metro mayor's pool promise evaporates

Despite grand promises by Buffalo City Metro mayor Princess Faku that the long-delayed Mdantsane NU2 pool would be completed during her first 100 days in office, no work has been done on the project since she took over a year ago. In fact, according to the main contractor on the multimillion-rand project, the NLG Group, the last day of work done on the promised state-of-the-art pool precinct was in July 2022, about eight months before she took over as the city’s executive mayor.

Mdantsane , Eastern-cape , South-africa , Buffalo-city-metro , Princess-faku , Comment-policy , Faku , Project , Gqweta , Nlg-group , Contractor

Demarcation board's scathing verdict on 'dysfunctional' KSD revealed

Despite the King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality boasting the third-largest economy in the Eastern Cape, it has been branded “currently financially and administratively dysfunctional”. The municipality also has a low population density and limited economic development and comprises about 90% traditionally rural areas.

King-sabata-dalindyebo , Eastern-cape , Comment-policy , Ksd , Municipal-demarcation-board , Sabata-dalindyebo , Ngamela-pakade , Mthatha-airport , Category-a , Nyaniso-nelani , Nyandeni

Councillor writes to minister over alleged Mhlontlo corruption

UDM councillor Zakheni Nondaka, who has become a fierce voice against the alleged looting of resources in the ANC-led Mhlontlo municipal council, has escalated his fight against corruption to co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Thembi Nkadimeng. Over the years, Nondaka, has accused those in power of systematic looting and has on several occasions written to the office of the Eastern Cape co-operative governance MEC to intervene.

Zakheni-nondaka , Thembi-nkadimeng , Comment-policy , Mhlontlo , Mamela-mangcotywa , Udm , Mec , Anc , Mthatha , Tsolo-junction , Mpekweni-resort

BCM ward projects stall after funds frozen

Buffalo City Metro communities are beginning to feel the pain of the city’s spending cuts after it pulled the plug on its multimillion-rand ward-based projects. According to the ward allocation programmes report, seen by the Dispatch, 14 wards had not touched their millions by the time the freeze was implemented towards the end of 2023, while others managed to spend between R6,000 and R900,000 per ward.

City-metro , Comment-policy , Ward , Bonisile-grey , Monde-mfene , Bcm , Buffalo-city-metro , Anathi-majeke , Samkelo-ngwenya , Vuyani-holiday , Allister-stewart

Slight respite for hard-pressed consumers

Shoppers have had the tiniest sliver of reprieve to their monthly food basket, with household items predominantly on the decrease in February.Consumer inflation increased in January and yearly costs remain high, but the increase margin both nationally and in the Buffalo City Metro was dampened.

Comment-policy , Prices , Kirsti-burrows , Buffalo-city-metro , Household-affordability-index , Sa , Dispatch , Pmbejd , Pietermaritzburg-economic-justice-amp-dignity-group , Mike-pedersen-horn , Spar

Fears for pupils' safety at crumbling Mdantsane school

Pupils at Lwandisa Primary School in Mdantsane are learning under dangerous conditions due to dilapidated infrastructure. Adjacent to one of the best schools in the province, pupils at Lwandisa are risking their lives daily.

Mdantsane , Eastern-cape , South-africa , Pupils-at-lwandisa-primary-school-in-mdantsane , Lwandisa-primary , Lwandisa-primary-school , Comment-policy , Pupils , Lwandisa , Zameka-zikode , Linda-dwangu

Major backlog in East London postmortems

Unprocessed postmortem reports have piled up at the provincial mortuary in Woodbrook, East London, which means families are not getting justice for their loved ones as police are unable to proceed with investigations. Hundreds of postmortem reports remain unprocessed at the mortuary over the past few months.

East-london , Eastern-cape , South-africa , Comment-policy , Cause , Families , Mortuary , Woodbrook , Police , Siphokazi-mawisa , Daily-dispatch