This is the view of the DA’s mayoral candidate in Ekurhuleni, Ghaleb Cachalia.
Cachalia met with community members at Benoni Northerns Sports Club on May 6, on the third day of his election campaign in which he will visit every ward within the municipality.
The candidate has ties to Benoni, with his father, Yusuf, having previously owned a school clothing store, Snappers, in Benoni.
His cousin, Ismail Cachalia, is an Actonville doctor.
The mayoral candidate listed his plans for the metro if he were elected as mayor in the local government elections in August.
Cachalia identified some of the following issues he would give attention to as mayor:
• Safety
“Safety is a major issue that we need to address,” he said.
“We need to root out corruption in the metro police and we need to introduce specialised units, for example, that deal with drugs and make our city safer.
“You need to partner with communities so that you can catch these criminals so we can make this city free of crime.”
Cachalia said, as mayor, he would have power to effect change within the metro police and would set up specialised units within the EMPD.
He said the EMPD’s resources would be fully utilised.
• Transparency
Cachalia said there will be investigations into tenders that have even a “whiff of corruption”.
“This corruption must go,” he said.
“It has become endemic; it’s become ugly, it has wormed its way into the fabric of society and the fabric of government here, which is why I can’t work with that government.”
• Infrastructure
He said budgets need to be spent, and basic services, such as painting of roads, cutting grass and fixing potholes need to be attended to.
“It is not difficult work, it is not rocket science,” said Cachalia.
“We must maintain and improve infrastructure and build infrastructure for growth and job creation.
“We are tired of red tape. Instead of red tape, let’s roll out the red carpet for business and investment into this area.”
He said he would reform the economic development department so that small business and start-ups have a conducive environment in which to operate.
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