Durban ward councillors set goals for the new year

WARD councillors in Durban are ready to put plans into action for their respective wards this year.

Ward 33’s (Glenwood, Umbilo) Councillor Mmabatho Tembe said from when she first became a councillor in 2016, her mandate has not changed, and that is to fight for service delivery in her ward.

“It’s become increasingly difficult over the years as we have seen a massive drop in service delivery in the municipality as a whole. Increased strikes, lack of maintenance, growing population, socials ill and more. More now than ever it’s time for the municipality to be held accountable,” she said.

Tembe said a few things she would definitely be following up on in the ward was the fact street lights were not being fixed.

“We are having a massive issue getting the Electricity Department to fix street lights in time. I also urge residents to continue reporting street lights that have faulted. This has also caused a lot of opportunistic crime in the area because lights are not being fixed on time,” she said.

Tembe said she would also be working on the Parks Department, as there were many areas where the weeds were out of control, with no contractors on the ground as yet.

“I will be continuously following up on this. Lack of staffing issues with Parks and also the Covid-19 pandemic have had a huge impact on this. I will also follow up on illegal dumping and the lack of street sweepers on roads,” said Tembe.

She said residents pay rates for services which are not being rendered and she would continue to fight for the ward.

“I will continue with my service delivery drives that I take to report issues on the ground and follow up with issues already reported, and to generally see how the ward is looking. I will continue to update my Facebook page as regularly as possible regarding the state of the ward and issues with the municipality. I will be working with all stakeholders in the ward to try find solutions to continuous problems,” she said.
Follow her page on Facebook: Councillor Mmabatho Tembe.

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Ward 27 (Musgrave, Morningside, Blue Lagoon) councillor Ernest Smith, said 2019 and 2020 have certainly been ‘humdingers’ for councillors where they have constantly had to fight for services for residents who pay high rates.

“With the impact of Covid-19 on the local economy I have seen a great number of our local residents who have lost their jobs due to businesses shutting down which no doubt impacts the way our people live as well as that of debt collection which funds service delivery in the area. Taking Covid-19 into consideration my goals this year are to be as accessible to the public as possible while discouraging spreader events such as queues, lines or the like where people are potentially exposed to the virus,” he said.

Smith said another goal is to network a lot more with stakeholders in the community who share the vision of a united ward and collectively hold the municipality to account in terms of departmental performance which rate payers deserve.

“In the fist 18 months of my term I accomplished this by partnering up with the CPF (both upper and lower Morningside) and other organisations such as the Jameson Park Trust as well as religious leaders who have the well-being of the area at heart. I plan to expand on this by approaching other stakeholders who want the see the area improved,” he said.

Smith said he would be putting a lot more pressure on the departments alongside residents to ensure that residents throughout eThekwini get the quality service they deserve.

“I believe in being accessible to the public – this includes both praise and criticism. I encourage residents to meet me at my office at 453 Lillian Ngoyi (Winderemere) Road, unit 5 if they have not already done so,” he said. The public can also email Smith on Ward27@ethekwini.org or contact him on 079 214 0020 via text on Telegram or Whatsapp.

Ward 31 (Musgrave, Overport, Sydenham) councillor, Charmaine Clayton said for her, 2020 is best forgotten about.

“Going forward with 2021 I’m hoping eThekweni Municipality can work with us as councillors regarding service delivery. As a councillor I have come under tremendous pressure from the community as they feel they are paying exorbitant rates and get no service delivery whatsoever. Departments are in disarray and e and I really feel for the community,” she said.

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Clayton said going into 2021 she aims to challenge eThekwini Municipality to explain to residents exactly what is being done to address exorbitant electricity, water and rates bills. She said her challenges with the Building Inspectorate had not been easy either and she hoped to work on this in the new year.

“While I understand the frustration of the people regarding these issues, I would also like to thank the community who are being proactive,” she said.

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