While there is no legislative obligation for any administration to report back on their first 100 days, we recognise this symbolic milestone as an important opportunity to account to the residents of Ekurhuleni on progress made since our accession to office.
We successfully constituted an inclusive multi-party coalition government, initially consisting of the DA, Action SA, FF Plus, IFP, ACDP and the Cope, and we recently strengthened it with the addition of the PA.
As a minority government, a crucial objective to ensure functioning government is getting budgets passed, and in this regard, we were happy to secure an adjustment budget last week in Council for the remainder of the 2021/22 financial year.
The adjustment budget is focused on supporting better service delivery and is crucial and long-neglected areas, such as security of water and electricity supply, roads and stormwater infrastructure maintenance, solid waste removal, environmental management, and sanitation.
It does this while at the same time reigning in spending in non-service delivery-focused areas to reverse the perilously depleted state in which we found the city’s finances, marked by:
• Cash on hand deteriorated to a 14-day reserve, which we have since improved to a 21-day reserve, with some way to go to meet National Treasury’s 30-day minimum requirements.
• A Moody’s downgrade at the end of November 2022, necessitating an R500-million reduction in borrowing impacting capital expenditure.
• A collection rate of around 84% compared to the budgeted 90% rate.
Our ‘back-to-basics’ approach to service delivery provision has, however, already yielded significant results in the past 100 days, among which I highlight the following:
• On electricity: R117-m has been allocated to the Energy Department to promote energy security in the city. In addition, a further R40-m for maintenance and R77-m for new infrastructure has been allocated to minimise power outages caused by ageing and poorly maintained infrastructure in the City.
The City is still plagued by regularly extended outages because of poorly maintained and out of date infrastructure, particularly during the current extreme weather conditions.
While they will take time to yield an impact, these investments are intended to reduce those outages. In the interim, the City has been directed to improve demand forecasting for maintenance supplies and communications on supply outages.
• On environment and waste: 112 illegal dumping spots have been cleared throughout the City and significant progress has been made to clear hyacinth and rehabilitate the Benoni lakes and dams. The Weltevreden Landfill has been reopened, with the Rooikraal Landfill to be reopened by mid-March.
• On roads and stormwater: Maintenance was done on 2 100 stormwater drains throughout the City, and 48km of roads have been rehabilitated. 550 road signs have been installed and maintained and 29 000m2 of potholes have been patched throughout the City.
• On water and sanitation: Forty-eight water points were installed at Mayfield Extension 15 in Ward 96. The Impala and Kwa-Thema water reservoirs have also been completed.
• On human settlements: Construction commenced on 152 units at the Leeuwpoort Housing Development, with a further 188 units on track for completion at the Vosloorus Urban Renewal project by March 20 this year. A 157 out of 197 units have been completed for allocation at Chris Hani Phase 2.
• On the creation of work opportunities: The City has concluded contracts with 1 100 Public Employment Programme beneficiaries, with a further EPWP 220 work opportunities created in roads and stormwater maintenance.
• On financial management and good governance: A new City Audit Committee was appointed in December last year, and a meeting was held with the chairperson to indicate the multiparty coalition’s full support for its work in ensuring financial compliance and good governance by the City administration.
• On the general valuations roll 2021 to 2025: Inefficiently distributed objection outcomes were uploaded to the City’s Siyakhokha platform. Financial ‘open days’ were held in February to promote assistance to aggrieved property owners. We successfully lobbied provincial government for the expeditious establishment of the Ekurhuleni Valuations Appeal Board and an extension in the deadline for the appeals to April 29. We have also arranged that residents could make rate payment arrangements at their proposed property valuation while their appeals are being finalised.
These areas of progress have already made some positive impact on the lives of our residents. However, much progress still needs to be made to comprehensively extricate the City of Ekurhuleni from the low base of service delivery on which it functioned before the local government election.
Further details in this regard will be announced in the State of the City Address to be held on March 30.
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