Kwatsaduza – In his inaugural State of the City Address (SOCA), Mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana called for political stability in the metro to eliminate frivolous motions of no confidence, stabilise service delivery and effectively provide essential services.
He spoke at the OR Tambo Government Precinct on Tuesday, where only the ANC-EFF coalition parties were in the audience.
The DA in Ekurhuleni did not attend because of the costs associated with the event.
Ousted mayor and DA caucus leader in Ekurhuleni Tania Campbell told the media they wrote to Ngodwana’s office on April 21 to raise their proposal for the metro to host the SOCA and Budget Address in the ordinary proceedings of the council as an annual report.
They believe the proposal will not create unnecessary financial expenditure and fanfare. However, the mayor did not heed the call and proceeded with the SOCA.
Ngodwana noted that political stability is central to providing basic security and human needs services for the future and continued sustainable growth in the city.
“Without political stability, internal squabbles take centre stage, and services take a back seat while time is spent trying to resolve squabbles, resulting in delays in providing services,” he added.
Ngodwana assured residents that the era of slothful service delivery had ended.
“We commit to ensuring that what is expected of this collective happens and that residents get their money’s worth.
“The characterisation of developmental local government dictates that we must provide quality, equitable and sustainable services to our people.
“Transformation requires an understanding of the historical role of local government in creating and perpetuating local separation and inequity, and the impact of apartheid on municipal institutions.”
To fight load-shedding in the metro, Ngodwana said there are plans to diversify energy sources and add to the electricity capacity to limit and contribute to ending load-shedding.
