‘Managing expectations’ has been the biggest challenge of the previous year for Clr Bongani Nkomo of Ward 32.
The NEWS met with the ward councillor to discuss 2019’s objectives, challenges and what to look forward to in 2020.
Nkomo shared his plans for 2020.
He said his points of immediate focus are:
1. Pikitup communicating better with regards to refuse collection.
2. Getting residents to report issues to the right entities before reporting to WhatsApp groups.
3. Thoroughly driving through the area to make sure that all lights are working and grass is cut.
4. Ensuring a circle is installed outside Westlake complex.
5. Installations of speed bumps on Stoneridge Drive.
Other upcoming objectives for 2020 include the construction of the new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route.
“Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) will be starting with construct on from early January, public participation was held throughout November,” said the councillor.
Nkomo said that it will not be a huge construction, but just the construction of a few bus shelters and the introduction of the route.
“The route will go from Alex Mall, along Longmeadow Boulevard and Greenstone. The idea is to connect Greenstone to Alexandra and Sandton because there are a number of people who work in Longmeadow and Greenstone who don’t have direct access to transport.”
Nkomo said this will go a long way towards connecting people to their workplaces and that will translate to more job opportunities.
The community of Greenstone and surrounding areas can expect more changes to come.
Nkomo said the community must understand that change is constant.
“Where you see green now, you will see a lot of buildings. This will result in having more people in the area and more services will be needed. This means that the community’s tolerance levels will also need to grow.”
The councillor said it will be a positive change as people are a growing population.
“Young professionals will be able to afford to live close to their workplaces, which will readdress socio–economic imbalances.”
Nkomo said he will ensure that places such as the Modderfontein Nature Reserve will be protected.
He said he is aware of the positives and negatives that come with more people.
“The area is going to turn into a more vibrant place.”
For 2020, Nkomo encouraged residents to get involved in the Integrated Development Programme (IDP) sessions that the city hosts.
The IDP is a public-participation platform where residents can tell the City what they would like to see in their area.
“They deal with capital projects as well as operational projects. For example, the tarring of roads, installation of street lights, but not massive infrastructure like long stretches of roads,” said Nkomo.
The ward councillor also outlined the objectives and challenges he experienced in 2019.
One of his objectives was to steady the water network in Greenstone.
Nkomo said 2018 was challenging where not a week went by without a water outage.
But through collaboration between Johannesburg Water and Rand Water, who are crucial in terms of the supply, they managed to steady the network in 2019.
“I would like to thank the residents for being patient and assisting with encouraging words. It does go a long way,” he said.
“Lately, we had operational issues like burst pipes which could not be avoided.”
Another objective was to increase safety.
Nkomo said SAPS and JMPD worked tirelessly, around-the-clock to ensure safety was upheld.
“Residents may not see it or feel it but there are people working on this. The installation of the IRP cameras helped with safety as well.”
Nkomo said developments, such as Flamingo Shopping Centre has an attraction for the area.
“The centre brought in a lot of traffic that has not come in the area before and some of that traffic is not friendly traffic.
“The cameras have allowed us to identify perpetrators and have a bit of a database of who comes in and out of the area.”
Nkomo said ensuring safety hasn’t been easy but they have had many victories.
Challenging objectives for 2019 that the councillor worked on were managing expectations of residents and readdressing the backlog of infrastructure.
Many residents have communicated their concerns to Nkomo, saying ‘this is a simple issue, why hasn’t it been fixed?’
Nkomo’s reply was that in essence the issues are not simple.
“The City needs money, if we are to readdress the backlog of infrastructure, for example, water piping with Joburg Water and fixing roads will cost billions of Rands and we don’t have billions of Rands,” he said.
Another challenge was motivating a public service.
Nkomo was challenged with trying to keep the staff from Joburg Water and City Power motivated while they had to work under difficult situations and circumstances.
“When water goes out, residents want it fixed whether it’s raining or sunshine and within a particular turnaround time. These workers have been doing this work for a very long time and keeping them motivated when residents are asking if they can turn on the water so that they can shower is unrealistic,” said Nkomo.
Nkomo was also challenged with ensuring entities do their work at the required standard.
He said that too many times, he found subcontractors hired by the entities didn’t complete work or standard was below par.
“Having to spend two weeks trying to resolve an issue and a person comes out and does a half job is frustrating,” said Nkomo.
Residents who illegally dumped were a challenge in 2019.
“We have destructive residents and more than anything we feel that its people living in close proximity,” said Nkomo.
He believes that people wouldn’t drive many kilometres to dump a load of sand.
“The waste is from work that took place around the area, where they see an opportunity to quickly dump waste and continue with what they are doing or quickly get rid of it on their way home.”
Nkomo went on to talk about the loss of his colleague, Oliver, who died last year.
“Oliver was a part of the CPF. I would like to thank his family for lending him to us. He was a true hero and funny enough his role was to fight crime, but he was a kind, soft spoken and warm-hearted person and that is what made his a force because he was motivated by good.”
Nkomo extended his gratitude to estate managers of Modderfontein and Greenstone, city entities, the CPF, SAPS, care committee who do maintenance, and surrounding businesses who have come on board to do an amazing job in 2019.
“I would like to thank Andrea Pierson in particular, who is involved with CPF, on service delivery and runs the Greenstone Hill Community page.
“She has been able to fill in the blanks when I wasn’t there and I am grateful for that.”
Nkomo also thanked residents for not giving up on the ward and the country.
“I get many calls that aren’t necessarily service-delivery issues, people asking for advice or people asking from people to speak to their sons who are going through a hard time. That is exactly what I am here for. I’m not only an employee of CoJ, I am a community leader and that’s what community leaders should be doing, so I encourage all residents to use me within reason.
“The more residents call me, the more they start being a name instead of a number. I have turned a lot of numbers into names in 2019 and I want to continue that in 2020,” said Nkomo.
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