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Ruthless criminals in Mthatha are sabotaging crucial infrastructure meant to ensure a steady supply of electricity to the town’s citizens. King Sabata Dalindyebo municipal bosses have expressed dismay over a flurry of reports and video footage in which people are seen burning electricity infrastructure in the area.
King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality mayor Nyaniso Nelani’s big dreams of turning his municipality into a metro in two years’ time have come crashing down.This after a proposal to incorporate another town and several municipal wards from two other local municipalities into KSD to form a category A municipality failed to convince the Municipal Demarcation Board.
Business owners in Mthatha and surrounding towns are being threatened by extortionists who sometimes order them to cough up as much as R30,000 for “protection”.Police spokesperson Captain Welile Matyolo told the Dispatch this week that at least seven cases had been reported so far.
Residents, ratepayers and businesspeople in Mthatha have been saying it for years, and in 2023, they even wrote a scathing letter to police minister Bheki Cele complaining about their town’s soaring crime rate. This week, however, King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality mayor Nyaniso Nelani, who has previously promised to run criminals out of Mthatha, has admitted that the town remains an unsafe place marred by murders, extortion, hijacked buildings and general lawlessness.