Chatsworth church land grab thwarted
By Zainul Dawood
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Durban - DISCUSSIONS are under way to thwart attempts to invade a piece of land belonging to the Christian Revival Centre Church in Chatsworth.
Community activist Omi Nair said an attempted land invasion took place behind Marklands Secondary School and at Papaver Road over the weekend. No trespassing signs erected by the church on Wednesday were stolen yesterday.
Nair said the problem started because the residents were told that the church was not giving the eThekwini Municipality permission to erect a substation for electrification to a place called Bagdad informal settlement. The miscommunication caused unease in the informal settlement.
The City of eThekwini has refused to make details available about how residents in several southern and western suburbs went without running water for weeks this month because of broken pump motors at its Northdene station.
While the city maintained earlier this month that the pump station had been repaired, some residents believe the area is receiving water because the city managed to strike a deal with global packaging and paper group Mondi, and is using its machinery.
It is difficult to get clarity on the state of affairs. The city failed to respond to 14 detailed questions submitted by
Daily Maverick, including requests for the maintenance history of the machinery in question, the estimated number of residents affected, who received the contract to repair the pumps, and questions about its water tanker distribution strategy in times of crisis.