Premier launches KSD projects and service ‘war room’
A R2.5-MILLION community hall for a rural village is among the infrastructure projects launched by Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle in the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality yesterday.
The premier, accompanied by KSD executive mayor Dumani Zozo, attended a sod-turning ceremony of a new hall to be built in New Payne, just outside Mthatha.
They officially handed the site over to the appointed contractor.
The premier earlier in the day, launched the ward 30 “war room” centre at the village.
Masualle launched the “war room” centres on May 11 last year to create places where residents could talk to ward councillors about all aspects of service delivery.
The new hall, when built, will be a permanent home for the ward 30 war room, which is currently temporarily housed at a church nearby.
Masualle said the idea was to create permanent structures where government supplied services and brought them to communities, while strengthening proper communication between government and local communities.
“We want these offices to be the first place of call for people who find themselves in need of any service. This will ensure a better relationship between community and the government,” Masualle said.
He also spoke about the storm disaster that recently hit the community of Payne.
“We are working very closely with the O R Tambo District and we are in the process of finding ways to assist the storm victims.
“We sympathise with all those who were affected by the storm and as an [executive council] we sat last week to see what kind of measures we can put in place to bring help,” he said.
KSD mayor Zozo said the most important thing about the construction of a new hall was job creation and transfer of skills.
“The most important thing about this project is that people from this community get to work on it and with that they will gain skills in bricklaying, plumbing and carpentry,” said Zozo.
Masualle went to visit the R61 bypass bridge site, where he was joined by roads and public works MEC Thandiswa Marawu.
The project will create an alternative and easy access to the N2 towards Durban.
“This project has created a lot of jobs and what is really impressive is that they are on schedule, because it means there is no money being wasted, despite some hurdles at first,” said Masualle.
His said he was concerned about households that were too close to the project, “and that we will have to engage with those households in finding ways around that”.
The premier also addressed KSD communities at the Rotary Stadium, where he launched another war room at the Rotary community hall.
There are now 14 war rooms in the KSD area. — ziphon@dispatch.