Ald Tania Campbell is back in her position as leader of the opposition.

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She has listed projects achieved under her leadership before she was removed as mayor of Ekurhuleni.

Much of her response was based on statements made during the October 26 deliberations that under her leadership, council followed an “anti-poor budget”.

Campbell told the media that considering the number of DA seats in council, she realised that she had to foster inclusivity.

“Those parties who joined hands with me did so knowing that we had to start by getting back to basics. And that is what we did.”

Projects completed during her time in office included the opening of a skills centre in Vosloorus, which was previously abandoned, and early childhood development centres in Palm Ridge and Katlehong ready for the new year intake.

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Other projects listed by Campbell included contracts signed with 46 independent power producers to assist with electricity provision, the removal of 13 550 illegal connections, electrification of 1 367 households, installation of about 48 water points and completion of water reservoirs in KwaThema, Impala Park and Pam Brink reservoirs.

“When we assumed office, we were informed by National Treasury that the city was not compliant with the national policy on the provision of free basic services.

“The previous ANC-led coalition had ignored these regulations in an election year. As the new administration, we had to implement this national policy before the city was pushed off a fiscal cliff,” said Campbell.

She said realising this would impact poor communities, a debt relief policy was formulated to bring reprieve to eligible residents.

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“Our debt rehabilitation programme, which will write off 50% of debt more than one year on the date of application approval, is inclusive of rates, service charges, interest and other costs.

“In September 2022 this was further extended to include tenants in council-owned rental stock,” said Campbell.

“To say that the multi-party coalition was ‘anti-poor’ could not be further from the truth.

“We inherited a city that had a backlog of maintenance and a myriad of service delivery issues.

“Years of mismanagement and almost no accountability had caused certain departments to fall way behind on their service delivery agreements,” she said.

Campbell insinuated that there were efforts to undermine the work of the multi-party coalition such as the collapse in regular refuse removal.

“To fast track moving our people out of squalor and filth, township regularisation was expedited and three townships were identified and were submitted for registration at the Deeds Office.

“Upon finalisation, this will culminate in 5 570 title deeds,” said Campbell.

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