Many residents voiced their concerns during a meeting held to review the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) at the Discovery Recreation Centre recently.
During April, a total of 30 cluster meetings and eight regional summits will be held in an effort to enable the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) to be more responsive to the community’s needs. IDP consultations offer the city an opportunity to report back to communities on the projects it has undertaken and to ask for their input on what needs to be prioritised.
The meeting in Discovery was held on 6 April and was attended by the Regional Director, Mlamli Belot, the Member of the Mayoral Committee, councillor Nico de Jager, and the councillors for Wards 70, 83, 84, 85 and 89. Officials of municipality-owned entities such as Pikitup and City Power as well as Departments such as Health and Social Development and Housing were also in attendance. The meeting was chaired by councillor Gert Niemand.
According to Niemand, the meeting was attended by almost 300 residents. “The residents were welcomed and then the Regional Director gave a presentation outlining what the IDP wanted to achieve going forward. After the presentation, residents were given feedback on issues raised during the IDP meetings held last year,” he said.
Residents were also afforded the chance to engage with the entities present regarding their needs and service delivery issues.
One resident, Siyabonga Masiza, said the IDP draft did not address the development of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMES). He also felt that the Princess informal settlement had not been electrified as expected. “I don’t see anything in this document that talks about the development of SMMEs and entrepreneurs. City Power hasn’t attended to Princess Crossing,” he said.
Another resident, Siyabonga Mthabela, was concerned about the drugs in Florida and wanted to know why nothing was mentioned in the draft documents.
Michael Mathebula’s main concern was the houses built by government that stayed unoccupied for a long time after they were built, “I’d like to know the City’s plan for vacant houses. Lots of people in our area are in need of housing. This presentation doesn’t touch on developing people living next to the Roodepoort Rugby Club site. Does the City have land to build houses?” he asked.
The meeting did not run without any disruptions. ” Some attendees tried to disrupt the meeting and it seems to be a coordinated effort, as a number of other sessions held across the CoJ have also fallen into the same disorder. Another meeting was held on 8 April in Matholesville for the residents in wards 71, 127 and 128 which could not be concluded as a number of the attendees jumped up and started throwing chairs around, damaging equipment in the process.,” Niemand said.
Niemand concluded by saying, “A Regional Summit will be held at the Roodepoort City Hall on 20 April from 5pm. This will be attended by the Speaker of Council as well as the Executive Mayor, councillor Herman Mashaba.”
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