Refurbish dilapidated buildings or else, IFP warns eThekwini metro

The IFP in KwaZulu-Natal has given the eThekwini municipality and the provincial government a month to respond to their calls to refurbish dilapidated city buildings. They say the buildings are a hub of criminal activity. 

This message was relayed by IFP members who demonstrated outside the Durban City Hall on Thursday, carrying placards.

Joshua Mazibuko, the IFP eThekwini district secretary, said he felt unsafe on Durban's streets, even during the day.

“We are calling on the eThekwini metro and the KwaZulu-Natal government to be held accountable for the crimes committed by illegal immigrants who are illegally occupying the city’s deteriorating buildings,” Mazibuko said.

“People are still living in transit houses since 2010 and were promised better houses after [the 2010 Fifa] World Cup, but still they’re displaced in those informal settlements.”

He said the party was giving the city a month to respond.

Mazibuko said women had become victims all forms of criminality in Durban, with many being stripped of  jewellery in broad daylight.

“As the IFP we say 'not again' to the criminality. We are here to make sure that people who put us in power through their vote live in a peaceful and safe environment with proper services.

“Woe to those corrupt municipal officials who are stealing from the public purse”

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Ntombifuthi Gumede, caucus whip for the IFP's eThekwini councillors, said as the IFP was not a governing party, it cannot make promises to the communities.

“Houses that were built under Mangosuthu Buthelezi, our emeritus leader, in Umlazi and other parts of Durban are reliable compared to the cheap RDP houses that are built by the current government. ‘Shenge’ was able to build infrastructure which we are still using today,” she said.

Mangosuthu University of Technology student Portia Mpungose, 24, who is a member of the IFP-aligned SA Democratic Students Movement, said she wasn't happy about the violence in Durban, where a student was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend in a residence in South Beach.

“We recently had a disturbing incident in our school that left us traumatised. One of the students was stabbed to death, allegedly by her partner.

“We do not condone gender-based violence. We are urging the police not to rest until the suspect is apprehended ... to face full might of the law,” Mpungose said.

The eThekwini municipality could not be reached for comment.

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