Councillor Bulelwa Ngqwangi reflects on 2024
Ngqwanyi said she would try to persuade the municipality to buy some strategic land to secure facilities for recreation, a police station and clinics.
Ward 13 Clr Bulelwa Ngqwangi reflected on 2024 with the Kempton Express, noting the challenges and progress achieved in her ward.
Ngqwangi said the municipality’s financial constraints, stemming from residents’ inability to afford services, limited the achievements of some of her goals.
The 2023/2024 municipal budget was particularly restrictive, further compounded by political instability, GBV, patriarchy and youth struggles with drug and alcohol abuse.
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“These challenges will be addressed through strategic partnerships with the government, community and business forums,” said Ngqwangi.
Despite these hurdles, Ngqwangi made strides in several areas:
• Community safety and engagement: Establishing community structures, including patrollers, street committees, a women’s forum, and a business forum, helped lower the crime rate.
• Poverty alleviation: Initiatives like household food gardening, Extended Public Works programmes and a recycling project to uplift struggling households.
• Infrastructure and maintenance: Key achievements included maintaining the streetlights, repairing the potholes, addressing illegal dumping and overseeing the construction of two schools (one high and one primary).
• Employment creation: Collaborating with the business community created local job opportunities, helping alleviate unemployment in the ward.
• Stakeholder collaboration: Partnerships with clinic and ward committees, taxi associations, the SAPS, school governing bodies and church forums were maintained, strengthening community ties.
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• Substance abuse programmes: Implementing drug and alcohol abuse programmes to tackle the youth’s challenges in the ward.
• Community participation: Engaging residents through social media, public meetings and radio programmes fostered greater community involvement in service delivery discussions.
• Development projects: The implemented integrated development plan (IDP) projects included installing security cameras in strategic areas and completing the Bus Rapid Transit infrastructure in the ward.
For 2025, Ngqwangi plans to advocate for buying and developing strategic land for facilities like recreational centres, police stations and clinics.
She will also push for investments in the industrial areas to attract businesses, maintain infrastructure and enforce municipal by-laws for informal traders, churches and traffic regulations.
Ngqwangi aims to provide services to informal settlements to reduce illegal electricity and water connections and plans to pursue approval for IDP priorities.
She also wants to increase community engagement through meetings and encourage establishing co-operatives.
Ngqwangi plans to promote school participation and upgrade programmes to support the youth, making education a key focus.
“The success of my campaign is measured through community participation on social media, attendance at meetings and support from local forums and stakeholders,” said Ngqwangi.
She expressed hope that 2025 will bring continued progress and urged the community to remain active and united in achieving their shared goals.
