Overport Rescue sets the tone for new initiative

A LOCAL ward councillor has pioneered a new initiative aimed at bridging the communication gap that exists between councillors and officials and between officials from different departments.

Councillor Chris Pappas kick-started this initiative by hosting an interdepartmental meeting with officials from the eThekwini Municipality at Durban City Hall this month.

“In order to ensure good quality and efficient service delivery we must ensure that we are all working towards the same goal. This forum aims to ensure that we are all on the same page and heading in the same direction,” explained Pappas.

He said 17 departments were invited to the meeting, although representatives from only seven departments attended.

“Although there was a disappointing turnout, the discussions between the departments that were present was very productive and valuable to myself as well as the officials,” he said.

He said meetings are conducted in two halves; the first half is for the officials to discuss how councillors can assist officials to more effectively execute their work, and the second half of the meeting is a round table discussion about broader service delivery issues that require interdepartmental input and action.

Pappas said he plans on tabling the issues for discussion at meetings in the future, including cardboard collectors, scholar transport invading parks, Brickfield Road development, Sparks Road development, and Berea crime, among others.

“I hope that be engaging all the professionals on these issues we can find a collective approach to solving these challenges,” said Pappas.

As a pilot project, Pappas said he would be conducting an interdepartmental project in the Overport area, to be called the Overport Rescue, which would entail a number of departments tackling parts of Overport in a cleanup campaign.

“The clean will involve spraying weeds, cutting verges, trimming trees, cleaning up dumping, identifying problem buildings and vacant plots, running a DSW education campaign as well as traffic enforcement and repairs to some roads’ infrastructure. Overport Rescue will involve six different departments,” said Pappas.

Pappas said pivtol to the success of the intervention was community participation.

“Councillor Hassan Haniff and I encourage all residents to come out on the day and assist us to clean up Overport. Bring your garden tools and bush cutters if you have,” he said.

The group will be meeting at 9am on Saturday, 8 April at the Park on Crescent Street, Overport.

“If successful, we will continue to hold these interdepartmental interventions on different issues throughout the Berea and Berea West area,” said Pappas.

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