Jameson Park remains a brewing pot filled with unresolved service delivery issues

HEIDELBERG – The executive mayor of Lesedi Local Municipality (LLM) Lerato Maloka has responded in writing to a memorandum of grievances which was handed to her by disgruntled residents from Jameson Park recently.

This follows the protest action on January 8 when residents voiced their concern over a number of service delivery issues and demanded that the mayor pay immediate attention to the memorandum.
During consultation between representatives from the Jameson Park Committee (JPC) and the mayor’s office on January 25, some of the issues were resolved while others were discussed and are yet to be resolved through collaborated effort.

According to the secretary of JPC – Tefo Motloung, one of the critical issues is electricity supply to the suburb and repair work to the substation, to which the mayor responded by saying that “due to practical considerations that are beyond the control of the municipality, repair work can only be completed at the end of February and also only in the event of no other unforeseen circumstances experienced.”

The mayor went on to say that LLM is the licence holder for the supply of electricity in Jameson Park and that the licence is issued by NERSA and only that authority can issue a licence to Eskom. “As a municipality, we do however provide free basic electricity in accordance with the indigent policy.”

With regard to electricity supply to Effort Primary School, the mayor said: “The cause of the electricity problem at the school is a damaged transformer, which belongs to the Gauteng Department of Education and not the municipality. The role of the municipality is to provide electricity to the school, and as a municipality we undertake to engage with the relevant department through the Intergovernmental Relations Framework (IGR) structures to seek a resolution of the problem.”

Residents also demanded that the potholes in Jameson Park be fixed and the roads maintained. In her response the mayor reminded JPC that a service provider who had been appointed to address the problem of potholes in Jameson Park some time ago, had been stopped by members of the community. We also note that the issue is aggravated by the high volume of trucks and heavy duty vehicles that are kept by residents in the area.” This statement was however, vehemently denied by JPC and they demanded a better response.

JPC is also not satisfied with the mayor’s response to their issue of tarred roads and said that during a meeting held at the municipal offices on January 21 the mayor had promised that paved roads will be constructed instead of two tarred roads.

“We demand that the mayor sticks to what she promised during that meeting,” Motloung said.

In response to the mayor’s undertaking that the municipality is attending to issues such as street lights and storm water drains, JPC demanded an exact time frame as to when the work will be completed.
Another issue listed in the memorandum was youth employment, to which the mayor responded by saying that LLM does not promote job preservation, but rather equal access to job opportunities within the entire municipality for its residents. “The municipality is engaging with potential investors with the view of creating and securing job opportunities for the greater Lesedi area.”

Many issues however, such as the erection of road signs, speed breakers and traffic lights remain unresolved as the mayor indicated that the municipality will engage with the Department of Roads and Transport in Gauteng on this matter.

The final point in discussion was JPC’s demand that Jameson Park be re-demarcated to the City of Ekurhuleni. The mayor replied by saying that the matter falls within the powers of the Municipal Demarcation Board and the municipality does not have the authority to boundaries of the towns and cities.

“The municipality is aware that there are currently processes underway to re-determine some of the boundaries. The municipality is also not empowered in terms of legislation, to approach the Board with a request to alter any boundaries. Members of the community may, however, approach the Board through their community structures to ask for a review and possible redetermination of boundaries,” councillor Maloka said.

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