As residents of Hilton, we are all experiencing the frustrations resulting from appalling levels of service delivery from our municipalities: Msunduzi, whose responsibility it is to provide most of Hilton with a reliable electricity supply, and our own municipality, uMngeni, to whom we pay our rates and from whom we expect basic services and maintenance of our infrastructure. The electricity supply, which has long been problematic, is now completely unreliable, and the state of our roads is indicative of uMngeni’s neglect of its statutory responsibilities to the residents of Hilton. The Hilton Ratepayers’ Association (HRA) continues to engage actively both Msunduzi and uMngeni about these matters. What we need to highlight upfront, however, is the need to strengthen the membership of the Ratepayers’ Association in order for us to be really effective in fighting for the residents of Hilton. Firstly, while we are representing the community as vociferously as we can, a Ratepayers’ Association with only a couple of hundred members does not have the clout which would come from a membership comprising a larger percentage of the community. And the income from significantly increased membership will bring the resources needed to escalate our complaints to include legal action, where appropriate.
Our service delivery issues in Hilton are too serious to be left to a small group of concerned citizens. As a community, we need to stand together to force the municipalities to provide satisfactory service. As a start, please join the Hilton Ratepayers’ Association to help strengthen our arm in defence of your rights. Click here to apply for membership.
Mike Tarr
Chairman: HRA
Chairman: HRA