And we have a new mayoral committee, and, yes, we have, sort of, new ward councillors, except for diehards Bruce Reid and Charlie Crawford.
To be fair, the pay is rather decent when it comes to being a ward councillor (no really, it is more than decent), and then you get other privileges, like cellphones, allowances and so on.
But this is not a job I want or desire.
For five years you will be dealing with calls about potholes, power outages, blocked storm waters drains, drug peddlers, illegal dumping, faulty street lights, water leaks, illegal businesses, illegal occupying of homes, loitering, littering, dirty parks, and so the list continues.
This is now the third set of ward councillors I have witnessed taking up the reigns in Boksburg since I at down in the editor’s chair at the Advertiser.
And all I can say is good luck and God speed, because they are going to need every inch of luck!
There are, after all, enormous challenges facing all the ward councillors and, let us be brutally honest, like their predecessors, it is understandable that the new batch of electives are full of fire and positiveness to solve every issue, eradicate every problem and, therefore, make Boksburg a better place for us all.
And, as I have witnessed as the years have rolled by, times remain tough and it is certainly not always a walk in the park to let the sun shine over this city.
Let me just, for example, mention the daunting task of tackling the Boksburg Lake.
Years ago, it was Mike Mason who, among others, spearheaded the collective drive to fix this mess.
The years have since rolled by, the metro has made many promises, the ward councillors have come up with great plans, environmentalists have been consulted, companies have spent money, yet the lake is still a sad mess.
Oh sure, they are fixing up the amphitheatre and they have revamped the old boathouse, but who on Earth wants to visit the lake where dead bodies float, where the stench at times is unbearable and your safety is in constant doubt?
Problem is, despite all the good intentions of the ward councillors, they still deal with a system, and that system, at times, seems quite dysfunctional and rolls forth like a wagon without a wheel, run by council officials and politicians who answer to the Provincial Government.
This is why you can report all day on potholes, water leaks, power failures and faulty streetlights, but there must be also the collective political will to fix infrastructure and spend money on proper maintenance of services.
So yes, good luck to all the ward councillors, especially those who have to deal with Boksburg North’s drugs dealers, and yes, we shall not forget the plight of Reiger Park, known, sadly, for the gangsters ruling its streets.
Like I said, a number of ward councillors have come and gone under my watch, and many have tried to do great things (I am still pleased about the fence that was erected at the fire station pond to protect the geese), while many simply faded into the background.
Good luck, therefore, to these new councillors, because all the issues I listed at the top of this article still exist, and so does crime, a dodgy Bokkie Park, illegal connections and frustrated informal settlement residents who still cry foul over lack of RDP housing, running water and proper ablution facilities.
Good luck indeed, and let us hope you do receive some sort of support and help from the new mayoral committee that, like all other committees before it, has also promised to move heaven and Earth to see the metro’s people prosper.
For the new mayor, his committee, and the new ward councillors, the proof is in the pudding, so let us see how things fare for the next five years.
Remember, the Advertiser is also watching, always observing, always listening, for our best interest lies with the community.
After all, those elected into office have been selected by the people and for the people, and we do all live in a democracy.
By the way, let us hope that, in the next five years, something – let it be anything – is built on that open ground alongside Trichardts Road. Just saying.
