Africa-Press – South-Africa. A sewage spill in Newton Park, near Leeu-Gamka, in the Western Cape’s Prince Albert municipality sparked a war of words between the DA and the Patriotic Alliance (PA).
Sharna Fernandez, the DA’s constituency head in Prince Albert, took the mayor of the Central Karoo District, Gayton McKenzie, to task, claiming the sewage spill was a danger to children and the result of an irregular contract.
She claimed McKenzie hired contractors without consulting the municipality or getting authorisation from the council.
Fernandez claimed the contractors, “employed by McKenzie” to install a sewerage reticulation network and fix drains in the area, had left behind “slapdash and careless” work, which was a danger to the community.
Fernandez said:
She further claimed that the municipal manager had written to the contractor, after hearing of the planned work, and requested that they submit various documents. However, this was never done, according to Fernandez.
McKenzie and the municipality had not commented by the time of publication. Their comment will be added once received.
However, in a Facebook post, McKenzie said the sewage spill was the result of a burst pipe.
“You have no shame, absolutely no shame. I am here now, and indeed the pipe burst, and it’s being fixed. You left people with bucket toilets for 80 years. The contractor is on site, the work was done by members of the community and shall continue to be done by members of the community,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie said the DA’s statement was “very low”, claiming the party had never been “bothered by our people using bucket toilets”.
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