The Herald has recently received numerous complaints about the lack of service from the local municipality.
Residents feel that they are paying their rates and taxes, but issues remain unresolved, some even getting worse by the day. Sewage, potholes and sky-high billing are only a few of the complaints.
The Herald decided to investigate and meet up with Tshidiso Tlharipe, Rand West City Local Municipality spokesperson.
“Like any other council, there are on-going infrastructure problems in terms of roads, water and electricity,” said Tshidiso.
According to Tshidiso, the municipality has been applying for various grants, both provincial and national, to get funding to maintain existing infrastructure and install new infrastructure.
“Our aging infrastructure is the cause of all the recent sewage problems, but we have a new programme in place and we are responding to the issues,” said Tshidiso.
He said the municipality has set aside between R15 and R30 million that will be used for infrastructure and to address all residents’ complaints. The municipality is also implementing a new call centre, which will be up and running from 1 September. They believe it will be the solution to better service delivery.
“Currently we have a serious backlog, because of workers striking a few weeks ago, but we are aware of the problem,” said Tshidiso.
What residents must do if they have a problem:
• Call the service centre and lodge a complaint
• Go to the the Rand West City Local Municipality Facebook page and lodge a complaint there
The Municipality is currently busy creating a chart that residents will be able to use to determine a turn-around time for service delivery. They believe that this chart will be in working condition in two months. However, their first priority at the moment is to address the backlog and provide the service the residents deserve and pay for.
The current Municipality wants to leave the following legacy behind:
• To be responsive to the needs of the community
• To address service delivery on the roads
• To increase the capacity of investments to create job opportunities
What the Municipality asks from residents:
• Lodge complaints with the relevant departments
• Let the Municipality know if you feel that they are failing
• Let them know if they are doing a good job
• Communicate with them
Another goal the municipality has is to install prepaid water meters at each household to reduce billing issues. Eventually, the municipality wants to have a 100 per cent rate of service delivery.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za (please remember to include your contact details in the email) or phone us on 011 693 3671.
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