The first Integrated Development Plan (IDP) meeting with the new mayor, councillor Danny Thupane, was a resounding success according to mayoral spokesperson Nkosana Zali, but some residents beg to differ.
• Also read: IDP meeting everything but smooth-sailing – residents
While the Krugersdorp News did recently report on the chaos at some of the IDPs, more residents wanted to share their experiences.
Community leader Nicolene Trom, who has been the voice of West Village for many years, made sure that she was at Centenary Hall in the CBD on May 24 where an IDP was held.
It was a complete mess. If our leaders are not informed by the principles of ubuntu, they should not be given a podium to lead at all. As a community, we should have zero tolerance for non-ubuntu,” she said.
She added that the community was given a platform to raise their concerns during the IDP, talk about their day-to-day struggles and also offer assistance.
“One person asked the mayor after we had been without water for four months, if we [residents in West Village] may have water tankers. He even said we were willing to pay for the water tankers ourselves.”
According to Trom, the mayor’s response to this question is what collapsed the whole meeting. She said he told them the entire country has a water shortage problem and that water does not fall from the sky or come with a flying machine. This answer was very insensitive to Trom and truly shocked her. She asked why an integrated budget would come from the municipality to take care of the issues when they (the councillors) are not affected by these issues and suggested the budget should be given to the community.
The IDPs have been ongoing for years and according to Trom, the same people table the same problems, but nothing ever gets done.
I feel the mayor is not for the people. He is using power to subdue people and not liberate them.”
Trom added this was evident when you noticed how many chairs were made available to the mayoral committee at the IDP compared to the handful of chairs put out for the community.
Finally, she stated the icing on the cake was when he thanked them all for leaving during the meeting since they were outraged by what the mayor said.
Promises made by Mayor Danny Thupane
The Krugersdorp News approached the mayoral spokesperson about some of the things that were said by the mayor during the meeting.
The mayor said that grass-cutting will be done regularly as needed in the various areas of the city. The mayor also spoke about installing CCTV cameras in crime hotspots where Zali explained this formed part of a CCTV programme rolled out by the premier’s office. He said MCLM is engaging with stakeholders on this matter.
Coincidentally, the first of such meetings was held between us and the coordinators of the programme in the premier’s office on June 7. It was held with the first cohort of Mogale City ward councillors and more meetings are planned.”
A second meeting was then held with the Krugersdorp Community Policing Forum on June 8 to discuss CCTV cameras in the CBD.
The mayor also mentioned a panic button system. The idea is that there are panic buttons available and when pressed the police will respond. The Krugersdorp News wanted to know more about this system and who it will be available to, however, information on this will be provided later.
There was also mention of crime prevention wardens being appointed and Zali said on May 8, 463 crime prevention wardens were appointed by the West Rand District when they established their intergovernmental relations at a meeting between the mayor and police. Speaking about the green army where almost 6 000 youth were appointed to help clean up Gauteng, Zali said MCLM staff is doing a great job in keeping the city clean with limited resources.
The mayor also made it clear during the IDP that ward councillors are appointed to help with some of the issues raised by the community.
“Councillors must report and attend to issues generally raised by the communities in their wards [eg, if there is a pothole in the road, it does not require an IDP where communities raise the matter]. Residents must constantly and regularly report such challenges to councillors because they have been elected for that purpose and are accordingly remunerated for it.”
He added, “If there are recurring issues that are not addressed by the municipality, then it can be tabled at the IDP roadshow.”
During the meeting, the mayor spoke about the lack of resources to address all the community issues. This comes after there were talks of two new BMW SUVs being bought by the municipality, with the entity still owning a brand-new and already paid-off Jeep.
Zali said this is incorrect. He acknowledged that there will always be inadequate resources but said that is why these meetings are held.
The municipality has not bought but rented two BMW SUVs when both the vehicles of the mayor and speaker broke down. One of those rented vehicles was returned on May 30 when Jeep finished the repairs on the vehicle used by the mayor.
“The speaker’s vehicle is still being fixed, therefore he is still using a rented vehicle.”
The Krugersdorp News also queried that when the people started leaving the IDP on May 24, the mayor said ‘thanks for leaving’.
Zali explained, “Yes, the rowdy and disruptive lot in the crowd told him that they were leaving the meeting because he was not giving them the answers they like. In response, he told them that he was thankful for it because their behaviour was unhelpful. He was merely reiterating a call by the majority of the meeting who was saying that the rowdy lot should and can leave so that the meeting can proceed.”
Even after the issues (that came up during the IDP meetings), Zwali said the roadshows were a resounding success with 18 IDP sessions across the city from May 5 until May 30. Zwali said there were little to no incidents and only one meeting, in Kagiso, was disrupted.
“In that way, the municipality is more than happy with the general behaviour of residents as well as their inputs to the proposed service delivery programme for the next financial year. Surely, the behaviour of one rowdy section in a hall on May 24 cannot be a standard by which we gauge the success or failure of the IDP roadshows.
If the Krugersdorp News is tempted to show the IDPs were unsuccessful, we however, measure success by the overall attendance and the inputs made by residents to the proposals placed before them in all roadshows. As far as the municipality is concerned, we have more than a strong mandate to accelerate service delivery in the new financial year.”
