ANC admits roads aren’t being repaired in Ekurhuleni- DA
DA raises its concerns about Ekurhuleni's roads and stormwater department allegedly coming to a virtual halt.
“Inadvertently, the African National Congress (ANC) has finally admitted to the Democratic Alliance (DA) that there are no repair and maintenance contractors currently appointed to work on Ekurhuleni’s roads,” said DA Shadow MMC for Roads in Ekurhuleni, Bill Rundle.
“The huge underspend on the metro’s roads became clear in the report on the financial and performance results for the first quarter of the 2014/2015 financial year, tabled in the monthly council meeting last week.”
The DA demands that the executive of the Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality (EMM) stops protecting MMC for Roads and Stormwater, Thumbu Mahlangu, once and for all.
“The report plainly shows that his department has all but come to a standstill since the start of the financial year,” said Rundle.
“Of the 92 capital projects listed in the report, the EMM has only begun work on 14 of them, this follows months of denials by the ruling party that six suspended officials are responsible for work in the entire department coming to a virtual halt.
“This department, which is one of the very foundations of economic development, is dysfunctional to the point of imploding.
“Stalled projects, diesel shortages, staff vacancies, unspent budgets, poor planning, management and budgeting completes the sorry picture of a department which the ruling party swears is functional.
The DA says that it is simply unacceptable that the ruling party has not acted swiftly to ensure that it appoints contractors to paint road markings and repair potholes at the very least, while it finalises the legal process which prevents it from embarking on large capital projects.
“The ANC merely pays lip service to its claim that attracting business and investment to the so-called aerotropolis of Ekurhuleni is its highest priority, while it fails abysmally to even keep basic existing infrastructure in good shape,” said Rundle.
“The DA will continue to point out why the ANC should not be running this metro after the 2016 local elections.”
