PROJECTS are already in the pipeline to plough the R2-millon prize money scooped at this year’s KwaZulu-Natal Municipal Excellence Awards back into communities within the uThungulu District Municipality.
This was announced at a media briefing session at Protea Hotel Waterfront in Richards Bay where the District celebrated their award for being the ‘Best Performing District Municipality’. Mfolozi Local Municipality’s also showcased their trophies for ‘Best Local Municipality’, ‘Most Innovative Infrastructure’ and ‘Best Community Project’. The wins earned both municipalities a million rand respectively.
District Mayor Thembeka Mchunu said their funds had already been earmarked to support the district’s Biogas Project as well as create more war rooms for the Operation Sukhuma Sakhe Programme. The funds would also be used to launch two sanitation projects and mobile communal container ablution facilities in Mthonjaneni and Mlalazi.
‘The biogas project utilises cow dung to make renewable energy and the project is underway as the Department of Cooperative Governance allocated R300 000. Six units are being constructed in Mthonjaneni and uMlalazi.
‘With a portion of the prize money, more units can be constructed in other areas.
‘The mobile sanitation units will benefit squatter camps in Thatha Falaza, Nyanini and Judea and will comprise toilets and showers.
‘We are not promoting squatter camps, but we have to cater for sanitation while in the process of creating decent housing for people.
‘We must provide proper sanitation to promote healthy lifestyles and eliminate health hazards and outbreaks of diseases,’ she said.
Investment
Welcoming the much-needed funds, Mfolozi Local Municipality’s Mayor Simangaliso Mgenge said the municipality was able to secure the awards through many community projects. This included school vegetable gardens, school uniform drives, an orphan’s drop-in centre, erecting Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, building houses for destitute families and installing laboratories at schools through partnerships with corporates.
‘We want to see women, youth and the disabled benefit from these funds and want to initiate an earthworm farming project and agricultural practices.
‘In Ward 7, the multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) – a stubborn disease to treat remains a problem and we need to address it,’ he said.
