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Hundreds of fed-up Pearston and some Somerset East residents took their service delivery grievances to the Speaker of the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality office on Thursday afternoon.
Braving temperatures of up to 38 degrees, local residents carried placards which read, ‘We want service delivery’ and ‘Power to Pearston’.
The march, which attracted around 600 people, was supported by the Blue Crane Community Forum which is calling for among other things, for Pearston to be declared a disaster area.
Residents have complained of prolonged electricity and water outages in the area.
Forum member John Wyatt described the march as a brilliant success.
“We got the Speaker to come to us for a handover of our demands, including the declaration of Pearston as a disaster area, as well as a petition signed by 4,100 people of the town,” said Wyatt.
“Algoa FM News gave us great coverage which always encourages people. And our legal, peaceful demonstration went really smoothly, thanks to the great effort by the Pearston branch of the Blue Crane Community Forum.”
Another resident Ambrose van Gend said the community was willing to work hand-in-glove with authorities to fix the power and water crisis.
Van Gend said the town’s short-term goal was stabilising the electricity by anchoring and fixing faulty poles.
Speaker Neliswa Nkonyeni confirmed receipt of the community’s memorandum of demands as well as the petition.
“We have made a commitment to have a public meeting and respond to all their issues in the petition within 14 days,” she said.
