As part of its role to inform our readers, GCN publicly invited the ward candidates in the relevant wards to answer one question: Which service delivery problem in your ward (area), which hinders the rebuilding of the ward’s local economy, will you address first and how?
Action SA’s candidates responded as follows:
Ward 39 Juanita Horn:
“Ward 39 is very unique in that the socio-economic differences in our suburbs vary from one extreme to the next.
“The ward consists of well-established businesses, yet in certain areas, unemployment is very high. Residents include extremes of the poor, middle class and those with strong financial independence. The skill is in knowing how to serve the entire ward, understanding the needs and ensuring different demographics across the ward, are assisted with municipal service delivery.
“The number one issue affecting the local economy is regular power outages. The constant power outages and high crime rate are forcing local businesses and industries to move out of the Germiston area. Business suffers great financial loss and, in turn, staff reduction and retrenchment are rife and the unemployment rate continues to rise.
“I commit to prioritising power outages and other infrastructure failures through all the council processes made available. This will include motions, petitions and public participation meetings where officials should be held accountable. During Budget and IDP meetings, I will ensure the needs of the community and ward are heard, to ensure sufficient budget is allocated to upgrading and maintaining infrastructure.
“I will ensure that when municipal awarded contracts take place in the ward, the CLO and local labourers are, in fact, residents of Ward 39.
“Finally, effective communication is key between municipal services, the ward councillor and the local community.”
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Ward 37 Thabang Mphuthi:
“Challenges which hinder the rebuilding of our ward in line with service delivery are failure to employ qualified and skilled people to execute proper work, the lack of police visibility in the community leads to crime, as criminals would steal electrical cables and cause businesses to suffer in terms of revenue, the lack of infrastructure, clinics and home affairs offices do not satisfy community needs at this stage and private security companies do more police work than actual police departments.”
Ward 92 Mahommed Cassim:
“Service delivery staff is not always equipped to face the problems of a community where the last house was built in 1969 in Northridge Avenue. The entire Sunnyridge area has become old and it is extremely difficult to rebuild an area without proper service delivery. Communication between the metro and community is non-existent, and it hinders service delivery.
“Accountability and responsibility go hand in hand, but for some reason, it has become a point of contention. It is my motto to lead by example and my supporters and the metro should follow by choice.
“Up to now, my supporters are following by choice but service delivery is not following suit.
“Due to the lack of service delivery, the metro’s main suppliers have also taken a step back. Rand Water blames the metro and the metro blames Rand Water. Exactly the same is happening with Eskom – I have been in contact with Rand Water and Eskom and it has become easier to pass the buck rather than addressing the problems.
“If the infrastructure was maintained over the years, the maintenance would have been better, making it easier for the metro to deliver better service. Due to the infrastructure falling apart, we are being faced with three or more teams having to address a single problem. Thirty-seven percent of water from Rand Water is being wasted due to leakages of pipes and reservoirs. The end result is that service cannot be delivered by a single team as infrastructure first needs to be replaced before leakages can be fixed.
“Although service delivery teams are willing to assist, there is a lack of training and experienced staff to address issues which could have been addressed much sooner and with greater effect.
“Communication is crucial. Communication with councillors, communication with residents, communication with people paying for services they are not receiving. Upgrade communication and the end result might be surprising.”
Contact the newsroom by emailing:
Marietta Lombard (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za, or (Journalists) Busi Vilakazi busiv@caxton.co.za
