Though he acknowledged that there remain some challenges in certain areas of service delivery, he said democracy has indeed “helped us to build a united country, free from the tribalism, racism, sexism and religious bigotry that characterised our nation 20 years ago”.
“Indeed we have a good story to tell,” said Gungubele.
He reflected on some of the “key achievements” of the past 20 years.
n Since 2005 we have spent in excess of R1.1-billion in the renewal of our electricity infrastructure as we continue with our efforts to become a reliable, dependable livable municipality.
n A total of 89 864 houses have been built since 1994, in Ekurhuleni alone. About R75 000 of these were built since the formation of the metro, in 2001. As of 2011, 57 per cent of Ekurhuleni households had access to and use of piped water inside their dwellings.
n The EMPD has been in existence since 2002, and to date it services nearly 2 000 square kilometres of the area that is Ekurhuleni. It has 2 121 members, spread across 18 precinct stations.
In the next three years, the number of precinct stations will increase to 21, and the EMPD headquarters will have been moved closer to the OR Tambo International Airport, within the broader context of the city’s plans for the aerotropolis.
n The roads are as accessible as they are because the city has constructed approximately 500km of roads since 1994, and even more roads were maintained and patched. To manage the issue of flooding, the city has maintained kilometres of storm water systems.
n In the past 20 years, we have established disaster and emergency management service facilities in areas where these had not existed. These include fire stations in Tembisa, Etwatwa, Daveyton and Tsakane, as well as disaster management satellite offices in Tsakane, Katlehong and Tembisa.
We have also replenished our fleet of specialised vehicles to cover previously under-serviced areas, and replaced those that had gone beyond the recommended mileage due to issues of reliability and effectiveness. Since 2006, we spent in excess of R120-million in the replacement of 76 fire engines, thereby improving fleet availability and response times significantly.
n In our drive to continue broadening access to primary health care, I can confirm with pride that we have in place 98 health care facilities of various kinds and levels across the metro, which we have built since the dawn of democracy in 1994.
