Councillor Basil Douglas discusses state of service delivery in Ward 68
"We are starved of projects in Ward 68. I cannot understand why more things are given to Wards who have things already."
It’s safe to say that all Wards in our communities have many issues with not many of them even coming close to being resolved. In an interview with Ward 68 Councillor Basil Douglas, he explains what is happening in his Ward.
“We have many challenges in this Ward, there are entities that are going well such as City Power, Joburg Water where their turn around time is really good and people are very happy with them.
“Then we have City Parks who does not cut the trees, people are getting mugged at the tunnel where trees cover the area. I must always beg for grass to be cut and trees to be pruned. They not coming to the party, they do not respond to my emails,” said Douglas.
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The councillor explained that the issue near the railway lines in Riverlea is split between City Parks and Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), and this is the issue because City Parks only cuts their section and PRASA does not take responsibility for their section.
“Another problem here in Riverlea is the expansion of Zaminiplio Informal Settlement,” he said. In an email to Hannes Davids from the City of Joburg, Housing’s Regional Head, the councillor expressed his concerns: ”
The situation in the informal settlement is getting out of control and the councillor would like the City to have solutions for the issues in the campsite.
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“One thing that I’m happy about is that they finally going to do something about Sand Street in Riverlea Extension. We just waiting on the IDP to be confirmed for the budget, this is after eleven years of dealing with the issue. I am grateful to people such as Karin Woods, and Carol Kara who is always pressuring me to work on certain issues in the area,” he said.
The councillor also said that he appreciates the different committees in the area who work hand in hand with him.
“Like I always say that I am frustrated with many officials but as I said before, I cannot instruct other officials on what to do, I will get a disciplinary hearing,” he added.
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According to Douglas, the other good news story is that the sinkhole in Kelvin Street, Industria will finally be closed after a year and a half. The councillor said that there are six to seven million rands put aside for the project to take place.
They will be cornering off Kelvin Street for three months once the project begins. They currently having access problems for the factories but it will be dealt with soon. They have to investigate the cause of the sink and an inspect for the rest of the street will be done to see if there are any more holes underground.
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“In Pennyville, I’m not happy with the services from all the entities, there are major environmental issues. Rats are running all over Phase 1, 2, and 4. There are sewage leaks all over the area. Pennyville is being treated like the stepchild of everything.
“We are starved of projects in Ward 68. I cannot understand why more things are given to Wards who have things already. Why do they get more? We go to the IDP meetings every year and speak about the same things. I’ve been submitting the same IDP for the past four years because nothing has changed,” explained the councillor.
An article in next week’s paper will address more issues in which the councillor addressed.
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