Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

2 min read | 8:50 pm CAT

Citizens of the Amathole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape stand to lose R500 million of a maintenance and infrastructure grant because the municipality has not spent a single cent of the grant to date.

The Equality Collective – an organisation based in Nqileni Village in rural Eastern Cape, says the municipality is responsible for the water services of nearly 900 thousand people. In July this year, it failed to spend the first R100 million portion of the National Treasury’s R493-million Municipal Infrastructure Grant.

The purpose of the municipal infrastructure grant is to provide poorer communities with basic service delivery.

Speaking to Radio Islam International, the Head of Communications for the Collective, Zoe Postman, said the grant’s mission included job creation as building and upgrading infrastructure provides jobs for people from the community.

“It’s really about the local economic development as well as the empowerment of municipalities and poverty alleviation,” she says.

The municipality says they’ve had staff strikes and other such challenges, resulting in them not spending the money.

According to Postman, it is understandable that operating was at limited capacity due to strikes from municipal workers for higher wages.

However, Postman said it misses the mark when it comes to identifying that the underlying cause of this is political instability and, ultimately, crisis.

Listen below to the interview with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat and Zoe Postman on Radio Islam’s podcast.