#IMadeMyMark: What Kempton’s Action SA candidates have to say

As part of its role to inform our readers, the Express publicly invited the ward candidates in the relevant wards to answer one question: which service delivery problem in your ward (area), which hinders the rebuilding of the ward’s local economy, will you address first and how?

ALSO READ: #IMadeMyMark: Voting-how it works

Action SA’s candidates responded as follows:

Ward 23 Kgaugelo Rikhotso:

“The lack of accessibility by the ward councillor who does not stay in the ward, even though elected by the people to serve. This makes it difficult to ensure that residents update the councillor as to which issues need to be resolved to deliver better services.

“As a ward councillor, one needs to be accessible to all residents because if not, it leads to a pile-up of unresolved issues, which result in having to spend more money to fix.

“Being present and accessible to issues concerning the ward will improve the time frame it takes to deliver services. Putting new tars that will stay for long and not having to patch every now and then, as well as the quality of work and material used, will guarantee durability.

“If we do it right the first time, we can focus allocated funds to other areas of priority, and this will also help ensure that there is no overspending and misuse of funds that cannot be accounted for.”

Ward 16 Michael Mnyameni:

“I will address the following first in Ward 16. I will restore the rule of law by cleaning our town and reclaiming our town. I will work hand in hand with law enforcement to enforce the by-laws, reclaim the abandoned buildings that are highjacked by criminal syndicates.

“I will work with the private sector to revitalise buildings to provide jobs and affordable accommodation for residents. I will help prioritise and create job opportunities for the residents of Ward 16 by working with the City and the private sectors to ensure economic opportunities.

“I will encourage local businesses and NGOs to provide our local residents with skills development initiatives and any sort of corporate social investment. I will also work hard and smart to assist in providing excellent service delivery and service charges that are low to accommodate those who do not afford payment.”

Ward 15 Genevè Christopher:

“The predominant service delivery problems in our ward are the ageing water infrastructure with frequent pipe bursts, non-working street lights, parks and open spaces that have not been maintained since lockdown, and the increase in prepaid electricity, and in some areas, the evaluation process that happened recently.

“Other issues we experience around Birchleigh are the weekly trucks that get stuck under the Elgin bridge and cause havoc in traffic.

“An increase in crime is also a concern for me.

“How will I address and prioritise these? I do not think that they should be prioritised in a particular order, as I think that they are all urgent and need to be addressed.

“On a community level, one must continuously report incidents and get our community members involved in reporting issues, despite some of the frustrations to get them resolved. In many areas, our communities are starting to take care of our littered open spaces through clean-ups and grass-cutting initiatives as they become a crime risk and have an environmental impact.

“I would like to understand the municipal customer service charter and the time it should take to repair issues to hold our municipality accountable. “And I would also like to get to know my community better so that perhaps we can come up with joint solutions to assist us in reporting and resolving complaints, and avoid constant recurrences.”

Ward 91 Molwela Ntsime:

“Service delivery problems in Ward 91 include consistent power outages, even in the height of the hot season, failure to collect refuse on time, incorrect municipal property evaluations, dug up and incomplete trenches, street lights that are on the whole day and off at night, a high number of bystanders looking for work, lack of housing and sanitation infrastructure for the two informal settlements (Kaalfontein and Vus’muzi), and a lack of maintenance for the only recreation park in the ward.

“Solutions are creating a skills development centre, community responsibility for infrastructure management, partnerships with registered professional bodies in the ward and using registered and trackable reference construction companies (BBBEE or not). These are among the few ideas and plans we have to improve and sustain the local economy.”

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