Service delivery a priority for newly elected ward councillors

The people of Brakpan have decided. Following last week’s local government elections, DA ward candidates Simangele Sabe, Brandon Pretorius and Annette Verster emerged victorious.

All three wards in Brakpan have had DA councillors over the past five years, with Pretorius retaining his position.
These community leaders shared their vision for the next five years, with service delivery being their main concern.

• Sabe is the newly elected councillor for Ward 31.
The ward is made up of Dalpark Proper and Extensions (excluding Dalpark Ext One) and Leachville.

“I feel ecstatic because the ward remains DA, which is a huge success,” said Sabe.

“I intend to address issues related to sewage overflow, road maintenance and street light upgrades.”

Sabe told the Herald she is hard-working and is able to understand and communicate with people.

“I developed an interest in politics a long time ago, as I had wishes to bring change in communities and people’s lives,” she said.

“I am a resident of Brakpan myself, so I’ll work hard to help people. I’m ready to get things done.”
Residents of the ward can contact Sabe on 072 234 1025.

• Pretorius, the councillor for Ward 97, is no stranger to Brakpan residents.
Ward 97 comprises Brakpan Central, Brakpan North, Brenthurst and Anzac.

“Before becoming actively involved in politics, I started working straight out of school and pursued a career as an estate agent and worked for a local estate agency while studying,” Pretorius said.

“I became an activist for change in 2012 and started actively working with the local DA constituency for Brakpan and in 2015 found myself working in the administration office of the DA in Johannesburg. It is through my involvement there that I decided I could benefit my community better by putting my name forward to become the local ward representative here in Brakpan.

“My decision to get involved in politics was not by mistake, but my intention was never to be political but to rather, through my actions, better my community and to do my part in ensuring the community of Brakpan has a fighting chance in surviving the decay of the current administration.”

Pretorius explained being re-elected with an outright majority made him ecstatic.

“It shows that a majority of the community has after the last five-year term yet again put their trust in me to represent them. To me, that shows my efforts and hard work have not gone unnoticed,” he said.

“I am a dedicated person and have over the last five years upskilled myself and bettered my abilities to ensure I represent my community to my fullest potential.”

According to Pretorius, the duties of a ward councillor are to represent their community and cooperate with other councillors in the best interest of the community, communicate the needs of the community to the municipal council and the council processes to the community, prepare and attend meetings unless they have a special leave of absence, monitor the performance of the municipality, raise issues of concern with the relevant bodies and provide feedback on the municipality’s performance and follow the code of conduct, which includes not disclosing information to people that can unfairly benefit from it. As for his priorities for Ward 97, Pretorius stated service delivery is tops.

“My intention is to consistently fight for basic service delivery, including street light maintenance, road repairs, sewage and stormwater maintenance,” he said.

“Bigger long-term issues would be the status of Main Reef Road and the way forward on Plastic City.”

He would also like to see a long-term solution to the ongoing maintenance at Jan Smuts Park and the Brakpan Dam.

Pretorius believes the biggest challenge facing the ward is the lack of political will from the current administration.

“There is also a very low community involvement rate in Brakpan. The buy-in from the community and their involvement is of utmost importance,” he said.

“One of my priorities in this term will be to get the community more involved and create a better working relationship with community-based forums in Brakpan.”

Pretorius can be contacted on 083 308 7821. There are also community-based WhatsApp groups for each area in Ward 97, which residents can join and communicate with him.

• Verster is the new councillor for Ward 105.
This ward is made up of Dalview, Dalpark Ext One, Larrendale, Kenleaf, Rand Collieries, Denneoord, Vulcania, Sallies Village, Minnebron, Sonneveld, Sunair Park and Carnival Industrial Park.

“I am proud to be elected and to represent the community of Ward 105,” she said.

“I started working for the DA in April 2008 as a constituency operation manager. In 2010, I was appointed as Gauteng East regional manager. In 2013, I was appointed as the deputy director for Gauteng and thereafter the Gauteng provincial field operation.

“In 2016, I was seconded as the acting provincial MD. In 2019, I decided to become a councillor as I feel I can make more of a difference within the community.”
Verster’s passion and goal is to have a safe, clean environment for children and communities, and proper service delivery.

“The meaning of that is refuse being collected on time, maintenance of infrastructure and a corruption-free government, and that is why I got involved in politics,” she said.

As a ward councillor, she has assured residents she will represent the people of the community in council, communicate the needs of the community to council and provide feedback to the community of their needs.
Verster wants ‘to be for the people and with the people’.

“I am a person who will go above and beyond to get the job done,” she added.
Her priorities are to ensure service delivery and for the community to trust her to fight for them.
Some of the service delivery challenges she wants to see resolved in the ward include water supply problems in the Sallies Village area, illegal dumping of sewage and other issues, such as broken street lights and potholes.

Residents of the ward can contact Verster via WhatsApp on 083 397 0419. She has urged residents not to submit queries or complaints on Facebook, as they may not be dealt with timeously.

Election results:
According to the IEC, the local government election results in Brakpan were:

• Ward 31: The DA received 6 018 votes (44.61%), followed by the ANC with 3 356 votes (24.88%) and the Vryheidsfront Plus with 989 votes (7.33%).
• Ward 97: The DA received 9 697 votes (60.91%), followed by the Vryheidsfront Plus with 2 692 votes (16.91%) and the ANC with 1 507 votes (9.47%).
• Ward 105: The DA received 8 828 votes (61.6%), followed by the Vryheidsfront Plus with 2 912 votes (20.32%) and the ANC with 858 votes (5.99%).