Lack of service delivery frustrates

Despite reporting problems to the relevant departments and pleading with the city manager for help, Clr Carlos da Rocha said lack of service delivery continues.

He said service delivery in his ward has been non-existent since November. He is experiencing the same in ward 118, a ward that he and Clr Victor Penning have been overseeing since Ms Alison van der Molen defected to the ANC.

Earlier this year, the EXPRESS published an article in which Clr Da Rocha said the lack of service delivery and feedback on problems raised with council departments was leading to councillors bearing the brunt of residents’ fury.

At the time, he said the executive mayor of the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), Clr Parks Tau, pulled resources from several wards. These resources and manpower, according to him, were moved to the inner city.

He questioned if the city was intentionally not providing service delivery to DA wards because of the national elections.

In response to comments made by Clr Da Rocha at the time, Mr Gabu Tugwana from the CoJ, stated that service delivery in all wards takes place according to fixed schedules. According to Mr Tugwana, the city has no policy to pull resources from wards to assist specific events.

He also said if there are individual cases where regular service delivery did not take place, the city apologises to affected residents. He advised people to use the normal channels available to report this to the relevant departments so that gaps could be closed where they exist.

He said it is “ridiculous” to imply that the city is neglecting wards which are represented by opposition councillors.

Last week Clr Da Rocha said, “We have gone backwards in service delivery. Pikitup is back where I found it more than eight years ago. There is a lack of sweeping in both wards. It is ridiculous,” he said.

According to him, dumping is rife and not much is being done to clean up problem areas. Clr Da Rocha said if cleaning does take place, the work conducted is sub-standard.

He again raised his frustration at Pikitup’s bin policy, stating that most residents cannot afford to replace stolen or damaged bins. As a result, several residents are resorting to dumping.

“The lack of ground management from Pikitup is also alarming. The sweepers are dropped off and they spend the day unsupervised. Minimal work is done,” he said.

Clr Da Rocha said service delivery from Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) is no better. “Workers do not cut the grass as often as it should be cut and when they do it, it is because of my constant nagging. Then they make a mess of things. They leave the grass lying around in piles. When they trim trees, they leave the branches lying around I ask them to remove the branches. Then they cut the grass in patches with long grass still remaining,” said Clr Da Rocha.

He said the JCPZ and Pikitup are only working in the places he points out to them. “If I do not get up in the morning and do urban management’s work, the ward would be worse. I cannot understand why I have to report every single problem myself. Are these multi-million rand companies run by people or children, who constantly have to be told to do what the rate payers are paying them to do?” asked Clr Da Rocha.

He said the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), is “just as bad as the other departments”.

“Manholes continue to remain open. There has been no supplier for more than five months. What kind of a circus is this? JRA’s favourite excuse is that there are no materials. Does one need materials to reset storm water slabs or cut grass on pavements and roads? This is just bad management,” said Clr Da Rocha.

Ms Bertha Peters-Scheepers, from the JRA, also previously stated that the depot has been working continuously in wards 66 and 118.

She said areas with open manholes were made safe by placing the yellow jersey barriers across the openings. They were to be fixed as soon as the JRA received manhole covers.

Grass cutting on pavements and roads is part of the JRA’s programme, and potholes and the unblocking of kerb inlets are being done continuously as per service requests.

Last week Ms Jenny Moodley, from the JCPZ said, “The JCPZ appeals to residents to be patient as we systematically resolve the backlogs. We would also like to dispel the notion that some wards are receiving preferential service delivery. The JCPZ is working hard to resolve the complaints of long grass with the added pressures of resolving complaints of falling leaves, illegal dumping, wide-scale littering, theft and vandalism in some facilities.”

She said while there are high-levels of community support in well-managed areas in the maintaining of sidewalks, there are also residents who use these sections as dumping grounds. This hampers service delivery as a separate team needs to be deployed to remove the litter prior to cutting the grass.

“Nurturing healthy, clean spaces is a collective responsibility, and resident-support in taking pride by refraining from littering and dumping, will alleviate the pressure from the JCPZ to redirect much-needed resources to undertake its core function of horticultural maintenance more effectively,” said Ms Moodley.

Following Clr Da Rocha’s latest comments, the EXPRESS forwarded an enquiry on May 5 to Ms Peters-Scheepers and Ms Pansy Oyedele from Pikitup. Comment was requested by 10am on May 8. At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.

@JoziReporter