Polokwane mayor insists on quality work

Monitoring of service providers’ work is an imperative and must be given priority to ensure that municipal services are as per set quality standards and meets the expectations contained in service level agreements. This was the directive from Polokwane Executive Mayor Thembi Nkadimeng during a mayoral committee meeting also attended by senior managers of the municipality on Tuesday evening.
Coming from the meeting, acting Communications and Marketing Manager of the municipality Matshidiso Mothapo reported that Nkadimeng was referring to the deaths of two nine-year-old boys that drowned in a borrow pit at Mogowa Village in Ga-Mothapo area and that were buried over the past weekend. The boys allegedly went to collect cattle and went into the borrow pit for a swim. “The borrow pit was fenced but the fence was stolen at some stage,” Mothapo informed.
“Dealing with the deaths of the two boys in the past week was unbearable because you can see how much pain is caused to the families because of someone not doing what they were supposed to do,”Nkadimeng reportedly said. “Let us make sure that our children are safe,” the Executive Mayor added.
“There is a saying that if you open it, close it,” she affirmed adding that the section responsible must make sure that no child in Polokwane should die out of the municipality’s own making. She ordered that stock be taken of all borrow pits that were left by contractors and requested ward councillors to assist with this initiative by reporting open borrow pits to the municipality. “The engineering section must ensure that contractors are monitored and after the work the land is rehabilitated,” Nkadimeng urged.
Polokwane Observer has repeatedly reported about contractors of the municipality that are not compelled to remove excavated material where work, and in particular the repair of pot holes, were effected. “It appears that proper supervision and management of work both by contractors and municipal worksmen are lacking,” a resident complained.

Story & photo: BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com

Featured photo: Rubble from an excavation at the corner of Pierre and Wessels streets has not been cleared although municipal contractors already repaired the potholes during November last year.