For more than two years Durban residents have being trying to get the government’s attention to help them deal with the many problems that they are facing. The water and electricity cuts, crime coupled with the damages to infrastructure are just some of the major problems that they have to deal with on a daily basis.
On Friday February 23 President Cyril Ramaphosa met with the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry NPC to discuss the area’s pressing challenges.The president, together with Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, Minister of Police Bheki Cele, Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Sihle Zikalala, met with the groups on Friday.
“The last presidential engagement took place in May 2022. On Friday the session presented an opportunity for the President and the Durban business community to recap on measures that have been put in place to grow the province’s economy and address the current water, electricity and infrastructure challenges,” the presidency said in a statement.
“During the interaction, the president and the ministers briefed the business community on various initiatives that are currently underway in assisting eThekwini and the province through the various interventions led by the national government.”
A Presidential eThekwini Working Group has been set up, to accelerate the speedy resolution of issues impacting the eThekwini metro. President Ramaphosa has set up the group that will be made up of Ministers in the affected portfolios, working alongside the metro and business. The working group is expected to present their progress reports to the President regularly.
Meanwhile, the president also met with the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Provincial House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership to address a variety of issues and foster closer relations between government and institutions of traditional leadership.
“Among the issues addressed by the president was the finalisation of the Traditional Leaders Handbook which contains all the support that will be provided to Amakhosi by the government. With KZN having grappled with the killing of Amakhosi, the president committed that the government was looking into the matter to decide on the best solution,” the statement said.
President Ramaphosa pleaded with Amakhosi to collaborate with government to fight social ills, build rural economies and assist in facilitating development such as building bridges, roads and educational programmes.
“With general elections on the horizons, President Ramaphosa also appealed to Amakhosi to be tolerant to all political parties by allowing campaigning in their communities without fear and intimidation. He also encouraged political parties to respect traditional leaders as they carry on with their campaigns,” the presidency said.
President Ramaphosa assured the traditional leaders that other issues related to land, rural development and agriculture will also be addressed.
