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CNR. Klasie Havenga & Frikkie Meyer Blvd.

Vanderbijlpark, 1911

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Statement by the Executive Mayor of Emfuleni Local Municipality Cllr Greta Hlongwane addressing the media on the launch of the 100 days plan on Wednesday 10 August 2011

Cllr NG HlongwaneIt is a great honour and a privilege to be afforded this opportunity to address this media conference. We called you here today to share with you our service delivery plans for the next 100 days since we have assumed office.

But first let me take this opportunity to reiterate the fact that we are a developmental municipality that continuously strives to improve the quality of life of its community. That is why we subscribe to Batho-Pele principles.

We are also working hard to ensure that we deepen democracy through a refined Ward Committee model and other participative committees. We also want to improve the system of inter-governmental relations which will directly contribute to the building and support of local government in a coordinated way.

Emfuleni residents have entrusted us, as their leaders, with the responsibility to translate their hopes, dreams and aspirations into reality. So they need to have the confidence that the new leadership is ready to embrace the challenges that lie ahead and has a strategy to deal with them. That is why today we are launching this 100 days service delivery action plan.

Let me start with my office. My first priorities include:

  • Creating a number of jobs through the EPWP and labour intensive construction methods with about R11 million allocated to this project;
  • We will empower youth formations by creating a youth participation structure. In fact we have already started with a Youth in Dialogue Indaba which was held in June at the Mayor’s Parlour. We are now working on convening a Youth Summit later this month or early next month;
  • I am going to ensure that there is an effective Mayoral Youth Desk that will be the voice of youth formations within Emfuleni;
  • Convene Mayoral Imbizo’s once a quarter as part of our public participation programme;
  • Resolve the student accommodation problem in partnership with stakeholders and affected communities.

On Water and Sanitation

  • We are going to replace 286 water meters in Evaton West Extension 3;
  • Replace 427 meters in Sebokeng Zone 16;
  • We are increasing the number of households with access to water and sanitation services by upgrading the Sebokeng Water Care Works;
  • Audit any open toilets in plots;

On Roads and Storm Water

  • We will be implementing the pothole repairs programme through EPWP.
  • Repair about 256 square meters of potholes in the areas of Lakeside, Evaton, Plams Springs, Evaton West Ext 2,4 & 5, Beverly Hills, Sebokeng Hostels, Sebokeng Zone 7,10,13,14, and 17 and Westside Park
  • 358 square meters of potholes will also be repaired in the areas that include Tshepiso, Sharpeville, Boipatong, Vereeniging, Peacehaven, Springcol, Unitas Park and Three Rivers
  • As part of Vanderbijlpark’s 260 square meters of pothole repair, we are targeting SE 1,2,3 and 4, SW 1 and 5, CW 4,5 and 6, CE 1 to 5
  • We are also tarring the following roads:
  • Bafokeng in Palm Springs
  • Dr Nkomo from Leshoro to Boipatong
  • Madeliefe from Seder to Pansy in Rus ter Vaal
  • Krisant Ext from Krisant to Tulip also in Rus-ter- Vaal
  • Cinderella from Eric to Knox in Eatonside
  • Krisant from Narcissus to Sonneblom in Rus- ter-Vaal
  • Springbok Road from Evaton to Werpner in Ironsyde
  • We are hoping to complete these roads by February 2012

On basic services

This month we are implementing “Operation Khanyisa” which will focus on public lighting, street lighting, robots and High mast lights. In order to speed up the servicing and maintenance of the public lighting and to therefore increase availability thereof we envisage to do the following:

  • Ensure that all the lights within Emfuleni are burning bright within the 100 days programme;
  • Repair the 52 already identified streetlight cable faults in the Vanderbijlpark and Bedworthpark areas to ensure that all lights are working;
  • Complete the replacement of faulty underground cables in CW6 with aerial bundle conductor to ensure the availability of the street lighting at all given times;
  • Intensify the night scouting patrol to identify sections of streetlights that are off and to switch them on, if possible or to arrange for repair immediately;
  • Replace all faulty control relays and/or photocells to prevent sections of lights to stay on during the day;
  • Commence with the replacement of the older streetlight fittings with new and more energy efficient units. It is envisaged that approximately 7 000 streetlight fittings will be replaced during this period;
  • In order to ensure safety and to reduce energy consumption it is envisaged that 10 traffic light intersections will be converted to solar power and energy efficient lamps and ultimately replace all traffic lights with solar;
  • Service providers will also be requested to put up one or more pilot sites to test the efficiency and feasibility of different types of low energy lighting together with solar power for possible future use by the Municipality.
  • Our priority areas for Operation Khanyisa include:
  • Homer, Roods Gardens, Powerville, Roshnee, Rustervaal, Waldrift, Vereeniging main Road, SE 2&3, CE 1,2&5, Vanderbijlpark CBD, Bonane, Unitas Park, Drumoville, Westsidepark, Beverly Hills, Arcon Park, Sonland park, Flacon ridge, Verg ext 2, Peace heaven, Three rivers, Sharpeville, Mantevrede, SE4, &6, CE4,5,6 CW 1,2, &3, Van Riebeck, Livingstone, Edison Road, Duncanville, Ironside, Debonairepartk, Lakeside, Three Rivers, Three River East, Three River East Ext 1&2, SW5, CE7, SE7, CW5, 5,6, Uitaspark, Drumoville, Dickinsonville, Leeuhof and Springcol, Vereeniging main road, SW1&2, Bedworthpark, Riverbend, NW7, NE3, Flara Gardens, Steelpark

Waste and Landfill

  • We want to extend refuse removal to all areas within ELM including informal and rural settlements;
  • We are going to identify 3 Cooperatives to be trained in Waste collection and recycling as a pilot project;
  • By the end of this month, we must have started with the distribution of refuse bags and collect waste in Sonderwater informal settlement;
  • By the end of September we will be collecting waste in Boiketlong and Lybia;
  • We will introduce services to new areas such as Golden Gardens.

Local Economic Development

  • Part of LED programs to be implemented during the hundred days include the establishment of cooperatives to look at:
    • Cemetery maintenance
    • Parks and grass cutting
    • Dumping and Environmental Projects;
  • Implement the Vereeniging CBD Renewal Project;
  • Renewal of old township precincts;
  • Grading of shebeens.

Housing

  • We will be allocating houses at the New Village Housing Project;
  • Resolve the Boiketlong land dispute by February next year;
  • Issue 1000 title deeds;
  • We are going to identify houses affected by riots and acts of disaster for assistance

Infrastructure Planning and Asset Management

  • We will be implementing an R11 million EPWP program which will distributed as follows:
    • R2 million for pothole repairs
    • R2 million for grass cutting
    • R2 million for facilities maintenance
    • R1 million for township plumbers
    • R2 million for waste collection and removal  and another
    • R2 million for EPWP projects
  • Launch labour desk for labour registration
  • Secure funding for Sedibeng Regional Sanitation Scheme

On Sports and Recreation

  • With regard to this department, our priority is to upgrade ELM SRAC facilities starting with:
    • The upgrading of Zone 11 Stadium;
    • Submitting business plans for Municipal Infrastructural Grant for funding to upgrade Zone & Stadium;
    • Draft a program for the grading of informal playing grounds;
    • Upgrading of Dickinson Park, which i am glad to say that it is at phase 3 of the renovation process, which is expected to be completed by early next year.
    • Upgrading swimming pools.

Public safety

  • We are going to reduce violent crime levels by: 
    • Ensuring effective policing of streets;
    • Expansion of CCTV cameras in crime hot spot areas;
    • Implementation of joint road safety plans with the Gauteng Province;
    • By-Laws enforcement programs and;
    • By developing a local crime prevention strategy.

Health and Social Services

You will all agree with me that a society that is ravaged by poverty and poor health can never be productive. It is for this reason that we have also prioritised the improvement of health services. We will be:

  • Increasing the number of clinics in rural areas;
  • Constructing new clinics in Evaton West and Bophelong Extension;
  • Upgrading the Tshepiso, Retswelapele, Beverley Hills and Zone 3 clinics;
  • Provide mobile clinics to informal settlements. We have already started with Barrage where we launched the mobile clinic on Mandela Day.

Library and Information Services

Let me take this opportunity to emphasise the importance of libraries to our communities. Public libraries play an important role in promoting literacy. It is a free place, open to all, with different programs to encourage all the generations to read. Libraries are one of the few places that give even the worst-off people a chance to improve themselves. That is why as ELM we want to ensure that our people have access to libraries. As part of our 100 days plan, we will be:

  • Finalising the renovation of Evaton Library Phase 1;
  • Finalize the upgrading and extension of Sebokeng Zone 13 library;
  • Launch our Early Childhood Development library programme.

Billing System

This has been a challenging task for the Municipality as we are all aware, but i can assure residents of Emfuleni that we are doing our best to ensure that our billing system is correct. As part of our turnaround strategy, we will be:

  • Establishing a revenue agency;
  • Reviewing meter reading and billing cycles. In short, we want to have different payment dates for different areas;
  • Review a 50% write off policy. Let me make this one clear, as from the 1st of October if you have not made arrangements with the Municipality on how you going to settle your outstanding amount, you will have missed out on the 50% incentive so will have to settle the entire outstanding amount on your account;
  • Implement effective credit control;
  • Implement “Operation Patala” campaign;
  • Restrict the Free Basic Water to registered indigents only. We are one of the few Municipalities which have been proving 6 kilolitres of water for free to every household. This benefit will now only go to those registered indigents.

Towards effective oversight

As I indicated in my inauguration speech, together with my Mayoral Committee leadership collective, alongside the Senior Management Team, we will be doing the rounds within our communities to interact with the people and see what projects are taking place. We will also want answers on projects that seem to be behind schedule. We will be making un-announced visits to all our pay points, customer care centres, and pension payout points, to see the functionality of our structures.

Finally, as we all know, this month we will reflect on strides made to empower women in various aspects of life. Our history of triple oppression of women is well documented, which culminated in a march by women to then Union Building, on this day, fifty five years ago. What should be clear is that women empowerment is not a matter that we take lightly or only attend to it in August of every year. This matter is a preoccupation of this current leadership.

We will be conducting workshops with a manageable group of women entrepreneurs for five days, starting from 22 August until 26 August 2011. The workshops will focus on issues such as entrepreneurial skills, business training, registration of cooperatives and companies, taxes and funding.

All the relevant agencies including Vaal University of Technology will be invited to help with issues such as registration of companies, tax clearances and issues we have mentioned above. Once completed, we want to ensure that by next year this time, we present success stories. We want to break away from a mould of events that do not produce any results.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for heeding our call and hope that we will continue working together in information our residents about interventions we are making in order to accelerate service delivery.

Thank you.

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