Dr Nasiphi Moya, the acting mayor of Tshwane, and metro teams took it upon themselves to bring service delivery to the community of Mamelodi on October 1.
Moya and the different teams donned their work suits and got their hands dirty by taking part in the integrated urban management programme, participating in community clean-ups and assisting with grass cutting and watering of trees.
Moyo said she joined the teams on Tuesday, but the programme had already started on Monday and would continue in Mamelodi for the whole week.
She said the integrated urban management programme is a monthly initiative whereby all the teams are brought to work in a community.
Other teams started working in regions 1, 4, 5, and 7 last week.
“In Mamelodi, we are going to be in wards 8, 16, and 18.
Moyo started at the clean-up programme at Mandela Park next to Mamelodi Regional Hospital and then moved to Tsamaya and Hinterland avenues, cleaning along the road and open spaces and fixing potholes, while technical teams fixed street lights.
She said the Mamelodi community has been complaining about street lights that have been off for two to three years.
“We are here dedicating most of our resources to street lights, but obviously there are other pressing issues in Mamelodi, such as issues with the Ikageng reservoir and the water supply here in Mamelodi, and this is something definitely receiving our priority.
“Obviously, after the disconnection of illegal connections, we realised that there are other issues.
“Tshwane is not going to give up; there has been an improvement now when it comes to water supply in Mamelodi, but illegal connections caused other damage, which we are fixing.”
Moyo added that they were working with local councillors on the programme.
“This is not a contractor programme; we are working with internal Tshwane officials on the programme, which includes different teams, from artisans [to] EPWP members, road technicians, street lights technicians, and the waste management department for illegal dumping sites.
“We are using our own metro equipment to fix street lights and roads.
“The programme relies a lot on EPWP members, and it is time we sing praises to them.”
Moyo added that the metro is moving to a point where it wants to build its own internal capacity and only use service providers when necessary.
“The programme works with ward councillors and communicates progress on a monthly basis.
“The councilors will also have the opportunity to call the programme to their wards to help and give feedback each and every month.”
She said the councillors’ work is very challenging because they must prioritise services with the little money they have available in the city. The councillors have to choose the most urgent service delivery needs.
Head of Region 6, Lebo Sekati, said illegal dumping is part of the focus for the programme under the waste management department.
“When it comes to illegal dumping sites, we are pleading with the communities to stop littering,” said Sekati.
Moyo added: “We have been appealing to the communities; we can be doing other things, but we keep going back to clear the same illegal dumpsite every week and week out; it is not sustainable.
“We are appealing to communities that Tshwane has [a] programme in the city where they can come in without spending money, like ‘Adopt a spot’ or community upliftment programmes, where they come and say they want to use the land.”
She pleaded with communities to take ownership of the vacant spaces, and use them for something that will benefit the whole community.
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