Just over a month since Ekurhuleni’s executive mayor Clr Mzwandile Masina took the oath of office, he addressed council at the Germiston City Council Chambers on September 29.
In his address, Clr Masina said his administration has had consultations with various stakeholders, including organised labour, business and traditional leaders in order to get their expectations.
He said one of the main priorities was to accelerate service delivery in the City in order to improve the living conditions of the people, especially those living in informal settlements.
Clr Masina sent out a strong message to those who commit crime. This comes after an 18-year-old woman was allegedly raped and dumped in a mine shaft in the Angelo area.
“We strongly condemn this barbaric incident and call for the justice system to deal with the thugs, who are behind bars already, decisively. I must state emphatically that no amount of explanation can justify such an act of barbarism. This incident also highlights the problems we continue to face as a result of illegal mining. We have noticed with concern that illegal mining has resulted in gangsterism in certain communities, while also escalating the rate of crime in some,” said Clr Masina.
He said the metro police together with the SAPS will be increasing visibility and vigilance in hot spot areas in identified hot spots.
Clr Masina shared some of the highlights of his administration’s 100-day programme which will be until the end of the year and set the tone until 2021.
“The health of our people comes first. In this regard we shall be officially opening the new Khumalo, Tsietsi and Dukathole clinics, which will make health care services accessible to no less than 300 000 additional Ekurhuleni people. Furthermore, the city will increase the number of 24-hour clinics by an additional three more facilities from eight to 11 by the first quarter of 2017. Three more will be added in the 2017/18 financial year to take the total to 15,” said Clr Masina.
“In bringing our policing services closer to the people, we will be opening a new EMPD Precinct in the Zonkizizwe area. A total of 292 families will soon receive proper housing, with an additional 280 to receive title deeds as we address the issue of security of tenure. We already have 11 000 title deeds at our disposal and we shall continue distributing them when due processes including the verification of owners have been concluded,” he said.
He said the process to establish the Ekurhuleni Power Station had already started.
“In this regard the advertisement calling for proposals for the Ekurhuleni Power Generation Programme (EPGP) has already gone out. Once complete this programme will produce an additional 10 percent of energy for the citizens of the city as a means to augment the Eskom supply,” he said.
“We will be officially opening a recycling facility in Tembisa and handing over a truck to co-operatives to do work in this respective area. Our process to curb illegal dumping continues to gain momentum, in this regard 22 000 240l bins with a microchip to prevent theft, will be rolled out to outstanding communities.
“As we broaden access to higher education, a massive game-changer for the communities of Ekurhuleni will be unleashed now in October. This is the launch of the Library Massive Open On-line Courses (MOOCs). This is facility that is basically turning our libraries into free institutions of higher learning. This innovation presents residents with an opportunity to do courses accredited by credible institutions like Yale and Stanford universities on line,” said Clr Masina.
“Our efforts to improve the turnaround time for service delivery complaints will also receive a massive boost with the introduction of the Service Delivery Mobile App with GPS co-ordinates. Furthermore, in the IT sector we shall increase our Wi-Fi hotspots by an additional 100 spots across 25 sites giving access to about 130 000 members of the community. Since the launch of the free Wi-Fi service, we have given back an estimated R13 million to the community, which would have probably gone to data, to use on alternative needs. To accelerate service delivery, we will launc a revolutionary programme known as Siyaqhuba,” he said.
Siyaqhuba will focus on the accelerated roll-out of basic services; water and sanitation; environmental management; transport and BRT in the Thembisa area; the roll-out of 24-hour clinics and pick up points; implementation of the 10-point economic revival plan; and road construction and storm-water infrastructure. It will also deal with the turnaround time to service delivery complaints.
