“The mayoral Siyaqhuba campaign is a true political roadshow and nothing more.”
This is according to ward councillor Jaco Terblanche, who said the DA in Ekurhuleni was concerned that service delivery had not improved since the campaign started.
“Instead, it has deteriorated. Executive mayor Clr Mzwandile Masina and his executive team paid the residents of Kempton Park a three-day Siyaqhuba visit, yet residents have not seen or experienced any positive changes,” he said in a statement issued on Thursday.
“Residents have received nothing but the runaround from the City of Ekurhuleni for over seven years. In 2011, then mayor Clr Mondli Gungubele introduced the Cleaning of Kempton Park Campaign, followed by the Better Building Control Initiative in 2013.
“Currently, we have the Siyaqhuba campaign that was introduced by mayor Masina in 2016. To date, there have been three mayoral campaigns targeted at service delivery, yet none of them have yielded any fruit,” Terblanche added.
As an example he mentioned 59 stands that were identified by Gungubele to form part of his Cleaning of Kempton Park Project in 2011.
“This year, I asked written questions to the MMC of corporate and shared services, Clr Khosi Mabaso, about these stands with regards to the building contraventions. I also asked for Clr Mabaso’s department to furnish me with a progress report on each stand.
“It turns out that 24 of the 59 stands could not be found on the system, which is peculiar. Although lawyers have been appointed to deal with the remaining 35 stands, no progress report could be given at this point.
“My question is: why is it taking the metro almost a decade to deal with the by-law contraventions on these stands? The non-action from the metro has created an environment for inner-shacking in Kempton Park.
“Currently, there are more than 100 rooms per stand. It has become very easy for anyone to break the laws because the city has no interest in enforcing the necessary by-laws.
“As one can imagine, the area is prone to overpopulation, increased unemployment and criminal activities (drug dealing and prostitution).”
