Government officials, managers, councillors and the public gathered in Tsakane for the Ekurhuleni mayor’s State of the City address on Wednesday.
Giving his last speech before the end of this term of office since 2011, the executive mayor Clr Mondli Gungubele divulged, at the Faranani Multi Purpose Centre, the success accomplished by the city in his five year period in office.
His address focused on strengthening social maturity by advancing social cohesiveness in the pursuit of a prosperous and, therefore a livable, and sustainable city.
He also shared detailed information on the growth, development and transformation the city successes have mushroomed from over this period.
“Once more I stand before this house as a humble servant of the people of Ekurhuleni to account for the work we have done, and are doing, to share the plans related to the work we will be doing in the future to transform our region,” he said as he opened the address.
The major highlights of the day encompassed the city’s strides to creating programmes of developing the city, such as the OR Tambo Aerotropolis Core Corridor initiative, dealing with job creation, issues of sanitation, building fire stations in the townships in addition to other infrastructure, bursaries, greening of the city and the awards the city has received during this time frame.
Adding to the list of accomplishments were the much-anticipated R51-billion Prasa New Rolling Stock and the Tambo Springs Inland Port development projects, which both are expected to yield thousands of jobs and are already underway.
Clr Gungubele said the developments the city has embarked on have ensured township economy revitalisation.
“It is important to remind our people that the implementation of our manifesto is embedded in the three pillared strategic framework of sustenance and service delivery improvement, transformation of society and the city and the preferred destination for investment, and growth where the poor and the rich can co-exist in a mutually beneficial environment, where they are empowered to realise their dreams and aspirations.
“To realise this, we formulated an inclusive and broad-based Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) 2055, which is anchored on the five strategic imperatives, namely: Re-urbanise, Re-industrialise, Re-generate, Re-mobilise and Re-govern – the effective implementation of which should make us a livable, delivering and sustainable city,” he said.
