Mogale switches Matshelapata on
The project set the municipality back by R28,1 million.
Matshelapata informal settlement has become the first settlement on the West Rand to be electrified, thanks to the efforts of Mogale City Local Municipality Executive Mayor, Councillor Patrick Naga Lipudi and his team.
The area falls within Ward 34 in Tarlton and accommodates about 10 informal settlements with approximately 4 845 households. Matshelapata alone is home to 1 311 households.
Mayor Lipudi was over the moon when he, together with the City’s municipal manager Maanda Raedani and Eskom officials, addressed the community of Matshelapata and later switched the first house ‘on’. Lipudi said the electrification of Matshelapata is an indication that the lives of people in the area are high on his agenda.
“We are humbled as a city to bring electricity to the community of Matshelapata.
This is one of our flagship programmes, and we want to indicate that when we said we were going to change the lives of our people in the rural areas for the better we meant it,” Lipudi said.
“This is the first informal settlement on the West Rand to be electrified and we want to applaud Eskom, through our Department of Energy Services, for speeding up the process and making sure that there is electricity in the area, and [tell the public] that we are rolling this project out in other rural areas.”
The project set the municipality back by R28,1 million, and the Gauteng Department of Human Settlement appointed service provider ADI Engineering to conduct studies which were later used as a basis for the electrification project. The project created 73 temporary jobs through skills development and training.
Dorah Makhafola, one of the project beneficiaries, was smiling from ear to ear when the executive mayor and the team switched her home on.
“I’m lost for words because we have been waiting for Mogale City to provide us with electricity for so long. Today, I’m so happy for Mogale City and its people [because they] listened to our call. This will go a long way for the community of Matshelapata. We want to thank Mogale City and Eskom [for their part] in our service delivery programme,” Dorah said.
The main role Mogale City Local Municipality played was coordination of various stakeholders and the provision of relevant information for planning purposes.
Daphney Mokoena, Eskom’s senior manager for operations said, “We are proud that we managed to complete this project within the stipulated time and want to thank Mogale City for being a good and cooperative partner. Most important [in this project] are the people of Matshelapata who have been waiting for so long to have electricity in their houses.”
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