Durban - Chatsworth residents who received food vouchers from the eThekwini Municipality, have to travel out of their area to shop at the supermarkets listed on them.
Ward 73 residents and the councillor are trying to get the municipality to alter their food vouchers so they can go food shopping in the vicinity.
Councillor Devraj Rama Pillay said the vouchers he was issued with were for Boxer, but there was only a Pick n Pay and Checkers in the area.
Pillay spoke to Belinda Mhlongo from the municipality’s office who said nothing could be done.
“People are so horrified, for them to go to that place, it’s not feasible for them. People are piling up in my office and worried about the vouchers,” said Pillay.
"Now I speak to Belinda and she says there’s nothing they can do. How can we resolve this problem if she says they can’t do anything?”
Pillay said he felt the vouchers he was given were not meant for his ward, because wards in Chatsworth were given vouchers to nearby supermarkets. People were supposed to cash vouchers at their nearest supermarket.
“It should have been Pick 'n Pay which is five minutes away, then we have Checkers which is five minutes away. I can’t believe they can put Boxer, which is miles away,” said Pillay.
He said with the Covid-19 regulations and the virus itself, people should not be expected to travel a great distance for food, especially in his ward, which required people to take three taxis to get to Boxer.
Pillay also said he had no explanation for the residents.
DA chief whip Thabani Mthethwa said he was aware of the challenges facing the Chatsworth councillor and had the same problem in other wards such as ward 10 in Kloof, where food vouchers were supposed to be redeemed at a supermarket in Hammarsdale, a great distance from Kloof.
He said that at the city’s executive committee on Tuesday, he raised the issue and hoped to hear the outcome on Wednesday.