Masina gives mayoral acceptance speech

“I am extremely humbled and honoured to stand before you today as the new executive mayor of Ekurhuleni,” said the newly elected Ekurhuleni mayor, Clr Mzwandile Masina in his acceptance speech.

Clr Masina thanked the audience and fellow councillors after the August 23 election for having faith in him to be the mayor of Ekurhuleni.

Clr Masina dedicated the victory of the mayoral elections to the the 10 ANC members who died when their bus crashed in Free State.

This accident occurred on the weekend of the launch of the ANC’s manifesto in June this year. “These men and women died in the line of duty and their memory will forever remain a part of our history for time immemorial,” said Clr Masina.

Clr Masina also congratulated the South African team who recently competed in the Rio Olympic Games.

He said that he was proud of the South African team for all of their achievements and singled out Wayde van Niekerk and Caster Semenya to congratulate the Olympians for both receiving gold medals.

Clr Masina stated that in the build-up to the elections the ANC conducted a door-to-door campaign to learn about the top problems facing the community.

These problems included unemployment, housing, quality of services, corruption and poverty.

He assured the audience that the winning of the election marked the beginnings of the problems being speedily addressed.

“We felt your anger and frustrations. We heard you,” said Clr Masina.

“In taking forward the agenda of improving the general living standards of Ekurhuleni, we will together with the collective leadership, both institutionally and organisationally continue to give critical attention to quality service delivery,” said Clr Masina.

“Gratitude must go to all political parties who have formed a coalition with us, the ANC,” said Clr Masina, who emphasised the party’s commitment to the coalition.

He said through a collective effort of the leadership of EMM, communities will see a marked improvements of both living standards and conditions.

Clr Masina highlighted some of the challenges that the EMM faced, which included fragmentation; dispersed urban structure of towns with no identifiable city centre; a declining manufacturing base; increasing social isolation; and high levels of poverty.

He thanked his predecessors for building a foundation and aims to build upon what is already established.

He stated that the municipality has devised an inclusive and broad-based Growth and Development Strategy (GDS 2055) which will focus on re-urbanisation, re-industrialisation, re-generation, re-mobilisation, and re-governing of the city.

“The formulation of GDS 2055 will allow for the EMM to become a sustainable and capable city that can deliver.”

Clr Masina said the aim is for the city of EMM to be a well-managed, resourced and financially secure city, characterised by an inclusive industrial economy and reduced unemployment and poverty. “We also want to be identified as a clean, green and sustainable African manufacturing and logistics complex.”

Clr Masina said in the next five years the following priorities will be dealt with:

• Improving service delivery
• Electrification of all informal settlements by the use of solar and other alternative power generation methods
• Construction of 100 000 housing units
• Providing 59 000 serviced stands
• Bringing the idea of an Ekurhuleni university to the national agenda
• Fast-tracking the upscaling of services in informal settlements
• Investing in water infrastructure to ensure security of supply
•  Starting the process of establishing a power station in Ekurhuleni backed by alternative and renewable energies
•  Fighting fraud and corruption by introducing a public tender adjudication process
• Building internal capacity to reduce outsourcing of key municipal services
•  Accelerating the piloting of 24-hour clinic services
•  Launching an app for communities to report service delivery challenges
•  Speeding up the Bus Rapid Transit and Wi-Fi rollout, which have already benefited community members in Johannesburg.
• Introducing a mega arts and culture festival as a signature event for the city
• Putting more focus on the renaming of streets.

“The Aerotropolis master plan has been completed and remains a critical tool in our efforts to realise the city’s unique economic development trajectory,” said Clr Masina.

He said the project was a first for Africa.

“It will not only increase the nation’s international competitiveness but also provide job opportunities.”

“Considering the city’s financial position, we are resolute that we are capable of achieving our programme,” said Clr Masina.

He said that the municipality’s budget will be put to use on improving social development by focusing on basic services.

Clr Masina said the sustained macro-economic policies and budgetary policies allowed for the city to become the most financially viable municipality in the country.

He said to ensure the sustainability of the EMM, focus will be put on the coordination between billing and the actual transactions.

“We shall also be paying special attention to issues of wasteful and irregular expenditure,” said Clr Masina

“We have come this far together and we can get even further if we continue working together,” said Clr Masina.