Clr Da Rocha announces 2015 goals

“When I look at the past few years, especially this time of the year, I cannot help but think there is a big difference. This particular festive season, I must give a thumbs up to Pikitup for doing a good job, said Clr Da Rocha.

“I must commend Pikitup on the sterling job done with keeping my ward clean, especially with all the illegal dumping done by some residents,” he said.

According to Clr Da Rocha, residents need to remember and understand that cleaning does not happen very often during the festive season, as the cleaning staff are usually on holiday.

He did add that he was pleasantly surprised to see Pikitup trucks making frequent visits to the ward.

“As we are in a new year, for me it is back to work in insuring that service delivery prevails,” he said.

It is also clear that the heavy rains experienced over the past weeks have created havoc in the area.

Clr Da Rocha said two trees fell on top of two houses in Albertina Sisulu Road, another tree fell across a street in upper Kensington and another fell across Cumberland Street.

“That kept City Parks on its toes. I can also see the grass has grown to an extreme length, but I am sure City Parks will be dealing with that as soon as they are back from the holidays,” he added.

“City Power has been performing, and so has Johannesburg Water. I am hoping they will continue with this level of service in 2015,” he added.

The department Clr Da Rocha was unhappy with, was the Joahnnesburg Roads Agency.

“I will be putting pressure on them this year,” said Clr Da Rocha.

He said the JRA reneged on a promise made at a public meeting in Kensington that they would start resolving issues immediately in his ward, and it is for this reason he will be holding the entity to account. “I will be calling for a report back meeting early in February, as I feel they have to report back to the same residents to whom the promises were made,” he said.

“They now need to explain to the rate payers why they have not done any work or maintenance in my ward.”

He also hopes the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) will become more efficient, as it has been difficult to work with them.

Clr Da Rocha said it has been tiring and frustrating to deal with the department.

“Should they decide to become more consumer friendly and effective, that in itself will cut my work load by half,” he said.

He also thanked all the departments for keeping his ward looking decent throughout the festive season and he hopes to have a good working relationship with all the departments in 2015.

“I believe that 2015 is going to be quite a busy year for me and hope to achieve all that I set out to achieve,” he said.