Eventful first year in office for Msimanga
Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga has described some of the widespread service delivery protests in the capital as “sponsored”.
The city has recently been rocked by sweeping violent service delivery protests which often bring the provision of municipal services to a standstill.
“You should actually visit the spots and find out what are the issues; you’d find some of these things are very much sponsored,” Msimanga told Sowetan yesterday.
“It’s becoming a trend, you’ll have people invading land, when you remove them they close the streets.”
Msimanga said in instances where land invaders were not removed, shacks were erected and “a week later” they start protesting again demanding service delivery from the city.
“In Malusi, an informal settlement in the north-western part of the city, residents wanted to beat some of the guys who came there trying to get people to protest ... they told them ‘we are engaging the mayor, why do you want us to protest?’” he said.
Msimanga’s first year in office has been eventful.
In December, he found himself embroiled in a diplomatic row following his visit to Taiwanese capital Taipei.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation described the trip as “highly regrettable” and a breach of “South Africa’s foreign policy”.
The mayor was criticised for contravening the “One China” policy which South Africa recognised. Msimanga remained defiant, saying he would do it again.
“I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was never about politics; it was about getting the economy of our city going.”
Msimanga was also heavily criticised after there were reports that he suggested that a wall be built to separate Mahube Valley residents in Mamelodi following feuds between shack dwellers and residents from the formal settlement.
He denied that the wall idea was his. He said it was a proposal by community members from the formal settlement part of the area.
“I’m excited there’s no wall that’s going up, there’s a permanent solution we are now finding.
”We had a meeting this morning with community leaders, I however cannot go into the details of it as they still need to take it back to the community at large first.”
Msimanga described his first 12 months as a success despite having “inherited a city that was almost bankrupt with a R2.1-billion deficit.”
“It’s been very interesting, a year of learning, a year where we began to turn around the fortunes of the city,” he said.
He said despite having inherited a budget that came up with its own challenges, he’s happy with the progress the DA-led coalition has made.
“We had to make sure we practise what we’ve been saying – prudent expenditure, accountable government with service delivery in the forefront.”
‘‘ It’s been very interesting, a year of learning