In a special public meeting held last Sunday, Ward 13 councillor, George Mahlangu announced the introduction of a new stormwater drainage system project in the area.
The project is set to begin on November 26 barring that there are no delays and will run for a period of six months according to the design engineer, Collen Monnye.
The project has entered phase 5, the stormwater is 2.9km and the following streets will be affected, Nthati, Wildchest, Sagewood, Protea Boulevard and Red Current.
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While residents were pleased about the introduction of the project, they expressed concern over it ending at phase 5 and not moving to Protea City where a child was electrocuted and killed due to what Mahlangu calls “a lack of infrastructure”.
In an effort to ensure that the residents of Protea Glen benefit from the project, Johannesburg Road Agency(JRA) Regional Operations Manager Petros Kunene took a hard line on labourers being paid consistent and fair rates.
“We will take out any contractor who does not pay their labourers the rate they’re supposed to be paid so that they can make more profit. They don’t want to be cheated out of their money so why must they do that to others?” said Kunene.
He noted that previously, rates in suburbs were paid according to the affluence of said suburb.
“We as regional operations managers fought to make sure that the south rate was as high as the other places. There is one JRA and therefore there should be one rate across the board,” Kunene elaborated.
The rate labourers will be paid for this project is R34,05 per hour and they will be working a nine-hour day five days a week. Also on the agenda of the meeting was the issue of spaza shops that are run and owned by foreign nationals.
Mahlangu noted that the shops have been reopened and voiced concerns over the looting which rocked Soweto almost three months ago happening again. Mahlangu said that the starting point of dealing with the issue should be ensuring that they comply with health regulations when operating their shops.
“There should be formal and written agreements between residents who choose to rent their homes to be used as spaza shops and the shop owners,” he said.
He has called on residents to visit his office and bring forth suggestions as to how to deal with the issue comprehensively.
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