Mayor’s BIG promise
After 100 days in office, eThekwini Municipality’s council leadership has taken steps to ensure the delivery of services, create jobs and root out corruption across all levels, writes Mayor
ETHEKWINI municipality will prioritise filling key positions in the new year to drive service delivery in the city.
This is according to mayor Zandile Gumede, who was speaking at the launch of the municipality’s festive season programme in oThongathi (Tongaat) yesterday.
Gumede was talking about her plans going forward after she marked her first 100 days in office earlier this month.
She said some of the senior management positions had already been advertised and she expected that they should be filled by January.
The top administrative job of city manager has also been advertised after the contract of current city manager Sbu Sithole was not renewed.
Gumede said the 100-day period had been dedicated to laying down a solid foundation to ensure service delivery takes place. She added that notable progress had been made.
She was particularly proud of the launch of the WhatsApp platform used to report water leaks in the municipality.
She said that she had not had any significant challenges since her appointment.
Speaking on the municipality’s readiness for the festive season, she said they expected about 1.3 million tourists to stay in Durban for the duration of their holiday and this could inject about R2 billion into the local economy.
The city said in a bid to keep Durban clean throughout the season, Durban Solid Waste Unit had appointed 85 additional staff litter pickers and placed additional litter bins in key areas with high volumes of visitors, such as the beachfront. Three shifts would work to ensure that the city’s beachfront remained spotless over a 24-hour period.
Special teams had been assigned to entertainment hubs, such as Florida Road and Helen Joseph (Davenport) Road to ensure they are kept free of litter.
According to the municipality, safety was also a “key priority” and metro police officers, SAPS and beach law enforcement officers would do regular patrols and extra security guards would be hired to complement law enforcement officers at key hotspots.
IAM constantly reminded that the 3.7 million eThekwini residents depend on us to ensure a better life for them. It is imperative we continue with our robust service delivery programme.
On December 2, this council completed 100 days in office. In my inaugural speech on August 23, I made a commitment to serve the people with honour. I am proud of what this council has achieved, although more can still be done.
Ensuring good governance:
On November 14, I launched the anti-fraud and corruption campaign. The launch followed a sting operation I ordered that led to the arrest of a municipal employee who was caught soliciting a bribe from a member of the public in exchange for a job at the municipality.
I made it clear that anyone who transgresses good business principles with the city, be it a member of the executive committee, a councillor, any member of staff or private companies trading with the city will face the full might of the law.
I have also spearheaded the merger of the finance and procurement committee with the executive committee, to strengthen my political oversight and guidance over the financial affairs of the municipality. The merger will enhance accountability and transparency.
I have also reiterated that I will keep the lines of communication open and on October 6 I held the first mayoral stakeholder engagement at City Hall which was attended by over 1 500 people from various sectors.
Youth empowerment:
For the 2016/17 budget, R100 million has been set aside for youth programmes.
The municipality’s R741m artisan development programme will see the city facilitate the training of 10 000 youth as artisans in various trades over the next three years.
A project close to my heart is the Mayoral Student Financial Relief Fund, which offers bursaries to learners who come from disadvantaged backgrounds to ensure they have access to education.
Creating a safe city: and violence-free
Metro Police have been working around the clock ensuring the safety of residents, enforcing municipal by-laws and arresting errant drivers and residents.
The city has 2 092 members and 244 vacancies with plans for bulk recruitment of 138 learner constables for the 2017/18 financial year. There is also an additional proposal for a further 600 learners to be recruited over the next three years.
Meanwhile, a new Metro Police unit, created to diffuse protests has been established, with an impressive response time of six minutes.
The recently established Multi Operational Response Team Unit has had numerous successes including ending large protests in under 45 minutes while also contributing to preventing land invasions and possible invasions of other major municipal installations and projects.
Water and sanitation:
The city has implemented 1 527 new water connections in urban areas with 252 yard taps installed in rural areas.
Some 1 481 urine toilets have been delivered in rural areas while 18 community ablution blocks have been delivered. This translates to the reduction in sanitation backlog by 3 375 households and water backlog by 4 050 households.
In September, I launched the WhatsApp Water Reporting line 073 148 3477 to provide a platform for the community and business to report all water-related issues, any time and anywhere.
Disaster management:
I recently launched an Emergency Command Vehicle which will ensure that emergency incidents such as fires and storms are dealt with more effectively and speedily. The high-tech vehicle, the first of its kind in KwaZulu-Natal, will provide rapid response to major disasters.
Roads:
All roads are maintained on a continuous basis. The municipality repairs about 250 potholes every week. The number of reported potholes has decreased to 130 a week, signifying an improvement in our maintenance programme.
Electricity:
With close to R3m spent, thousands of families have benefited from eThekwini’s informal settlement electrification project.
Rosebelle Lane, Briardene, Redcliffe, Bhambayi, Dakota, Engonyameni, Malukazi and Moscow have been electrified in the past 100 days. A further 3 000 households have been connected to either prepaid or metered electricity.
During my maiden speech, I also made it clear that street lamps must work at all times. Of the 8 175 reports about faulty street lights, an impressive 6 016 lights have been repaired in the past 100 days. More than 400 new light poles have been installed in North, South and Central Durban while about 900 fitting upgrades were done in the same areas.
Cleaning and solid waste: Fifty-eight clean-up
campaigns have been conducted by teams comprising eThekwini officials, stakeholders, residents and school children. The city has also embarked on a major greening project where it will convert illegal dump sites into 100 parks in 100 days. As part of a campaign to make people more conscious about cleanliness, 21 workshops and seminars, 123 school presentations, 86 radio broadcasts and 4 800 door to door campaigns have been conducted. I have made a call to officials that the level of cleanliness must improve drastically.
Catalytic projects:
The implementation of key catalytic projects, which are set to create thousands of investment and employment opportunities, are at an advanced stage.
I will ensure the municipality implements these high impact projects that will translate to massive economic growth and create in excess of a million construction jobs and over 600 000 permanent jobs.
The projects which are beginning to take shape include the Westwood Extension, Dumisani Makhaye Node (Westrich Mall) Development, Berea Station Mall in the Warwick Precinct, Point Waterfront Development, KwaDabeka Mall, Dube Trade Port and the Finningley Eco Park.
Ensuring a reliable bus service:
The new plans in GO!Durban is a system to revolutionise public transport in the city. The initial stage is characterised by four corridors. This phase is expected to be completed by 2018.
A corridor is a main road or rail that connects two main suburbs. These corridors will also have feeder routes that transport people from the main road to suburb stations and direct lines that transport people from the stations to residential and business areas.
The first bus route, from Pinetown to KwaMashu, is nearing completion.
Economic development:
The municipality has embarked on a drive to empower small business owners.
Transforming township economies is going to receive an added focus over the next five years. Extensive work has already been done in the Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu (INK), Umlazi, Clermont and KwaDabeka and Mpumalanga areas.
There was training in the Information Communications Technology sector for 200 township women in business as well as the technical and soft skills training of 80 township construction businesses. Information dissemination workshops have also been held with over 400 township businesses while 300 youth-owned businesses attended the “Inkunzi isematholeni” workshop.
There is a further proposed R1.2 billion capital intervention projects for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years with a number of projects lined up.
Skills development:
A number of inclusive skills development programmes are being run in the city including apprenticeships, learnerships, skills development programmes and corporate educational programmes across the various units.
The Youth Educational Empowerment fund awards bursaries to top achievers from disadvantaged schools. The city also runs the adult literacy development programme at four centres.
Wi-fi rollout:
EThekwini is steadfastly installing wi-fi cables in various hot spots around the city. The objective is to offer broadband internet access and wi-fi coverage to residents especially in previously disadvantages communities.
The project will be divided into phases, the first in the 2016/17 financial year with a proposed budget of R17m to commission a minimum of 21 wireless access points (wi-fi hot spots). Thereafter, there will be 250 sites a year starting in the 2017/18 financial year.
Since the project started, 60 free wi-fi pilot sites have been commissioned in different areas including KwaMashu, Adams Mission, Pinetown, the Durban Central Business District including Gugu Dlamini Park and Botanical Gardens, Ntuzuma, uMlazi and Kloof.
Military veterans policy:
We recognise the pivotal role played by military veterans in the liberation struggle.
In the past two months, my office closely guided by the Military Veterans Act of 2011, has put together a Draft Military Veterans Support Framework Policy.
The policy has been presented to all recognised military veterans associations, who not only supported it but have also been offered the opportunity to amend the programme. It seeks to assist the veterans with housing, skills development and training, access to municipal health services and the facilitation of or advice on business opportunities.
Due to the sensitivity and complexity of the programme I have proposed that a Military Veterans Advisory Committee, comprising of military veterans, be set up. This structure will consult on matters affecting military veterans.
Addressing social ills:
The city’s first Multi-Disciplinary Task Team was established in August and consists of senior managers from various units who meet regularly to discuss and find an integrated approach to dealing with social ills and challenges communities face. The task team is supported by a special Multi-Operational Response Team, which consists of Metro Police officers dedicated to supporting and addressing issues identified by the task team.