Get screened for mental illness
October is World Mental Health Month and October 10 was commemorated as World Mental Health Day, to heighten global mental health education, awareness and advocacy.
The Ekurhuleni metro’s acting manager for acute and chronic care, Patrick Magodzho, encouraged people not to suffer in silence and seek help as soon as possible.
“Mental health is not only limited to hallucination or schizophrenia, which is mostly mental illness at its advanced stage,” he said.
“It also includes mild mental health problems most people suffer from without even being aware of, or displaying easily noticeable behaviour traits.”
Magodzho said persistent headaches, feelings of depression or being stressed, change in eating patterns, level of socialisation, change to being anti-social and withdrawal symptoms are some of the indicators of mental health illness that family and friends can easily notice.
In this light, for any sign or symptoms of a mental illness, residents are encouraged to visit their nearest primary care facilities or mental health specialist.
All primary healthcare facilities in the metro offer screening services for mental health.
Clean governance non-negotiable
The metro is unwavering in its quest for good governance and transparency mayor Mzwandile Masina recently told delegates at the Chartered Institute of Government Finance, Audit and Risk Officers (CIGFARO) conference in Boksburg.
He said the metro’s collection, management and distribution of financial resources was evidence of the seriousness with which it takes the principles of good governance and transparency as reflected in conference theme – reclaiming governance and accountability in the public sector.
“The metro has increased its capital expenditure to above R6-billion from R4.1-b in the last financial year.
“In light of the growing budget, the metro has acquired more capacity to finance local development, infrastructure and economic growth projects,” said Masina.
He highlighted the metro’s efforts to fight fraud and corruption and revealed that, to date, seven senior officials, including two heads of department, have been suspended due to allegations of impropriety.
House for mine shaft boy’s family
On October 10, the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Human Settlements, Clr Lesiba Mpya, handed over a newly-built house to the family of five-year-old Richard Thole who fell into a mine shaft in Jerusalem informal settlement last year. The re-blocking of informal settlements across the metro is also on course to mitigate disasters such as the one that befell the Thole family, as well as shack fires and to provide basic services such as water, electricity, sanitation and accessible streets during emergencies.
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Incorrect info hinders My Ekurhuleni app
The metro said residents who are using the My Ekurhuleni app to log service queries are inputting incorrect information, prolonging the times to resolve their queries.
This results in a non-response as dispatched officials cannot find the location for which the queries would have been logged.
This means there is a waste of public resources and backlog on other queries.
To avoid unresolved service interruption issues, users are encouraged to ensure the location functionality on their phones is always on and they should click on the “current location”. Those logging a call for home while they are at work, for example, need to ensure they enter the correct home address. The My Ekurhuleni app encompasses all key local government services such as making burial site requests, reporting potholes, locating municipal and state facilities and the metro’s contact directory.
Citizens with basic and feature phones can report service delivery issues via a USSD (*134*30263) option at no cost and those using smartphones can log queries through the mobile app at minimal data costs.
The following reporting channels can be used:
• Free SMS: 30263
• Call Centre: 086 0543 000
• USSD: *134*30263
• Email: call.centre@ekeurhuleni.gov.za
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