Westenburg community satisfied following meeting with Mayor
After Westenburg recently expressed their upset and concerns regarding the allocation of land, housing and jobs, the Polokwane Municipality engaged residents on the matters during various meetings over the past several weeks.
POLOKWANE – In one of the more recent meetings on Monday, 20 August residents were addressed by the Mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng, regarding the roll-out of smart water and electricity meters which will soon be implemented in Westenburg.
Nkadimeng told residents the smart meters are to be installed for all electricity users, both large power and small power users, making this roll-out the largest project to be undertaken by the municipality. She added the objectives of the project are to help the city overcome problems of inaccurate billing and encourage the conservation of resources such as water and electricity.
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Nkadimeng explained this project will help prevent the risk of revenue losses for the municipality and bolster their financial position going forward which will in turn enable the municipality to free up resources to improve service delivery in other areas.
During the meeting, numerous concerns from the community were raised with regard to the implementation of the new smart meters.
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Chairperson of the Westenburg Community Development Forum, Ray Goulkan, said the meeting with the municipality went well. “We are very satisfied with what the municipality has discussed with us in the meeting and things are looking good thus far,” Goulkan said.
Regarding the memorandum handed over to the municipality by Westenburg residents, the municipality indicated they are in the process of getting responses from the directors of various departments within the municipality.
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“The municipality requested we draft a list of all the business owners in ward 19 for the office of the mayor to enable her to request a meeting with them,” Goulkan added.
The municipality further suggested a meeting should be called with all the necessary stakeholders regarding the Ext 40 land concerns in order to bring all affected parties up to speed and find a resolution acceptable to all.
Nkadimeng expressed her concern after she was informed there have been no projects done in the Westenburg area for the past two years. During the meeting, municipal officials encouraged the Westenburg Community Development Forum to continuously communicate with the office of the mayor to resolve any concerns or problems they might experience.
Polokwane Municipality Spokesperson, Matshidiso Mothapo, said once the project steering committee has been established and once the Community Liaison Officer (CLO) has been appointed, the municipality will start working on improvement projects in the Westenburg community as soon as possible.
