‘Wide gap between Mayor’s claims and reality’ – DA
"In his speech, Lipudi only superficially mentioned shortcomings in service delivery as well as playing down the poor funding of capital projects."
During his March State of the City Address, the Executive Mayor, Naga Patrick Lipudi, boasted that Mogale City Local Municipality was a R3 billion business.
A statement released by the local DA reads, “Unfortunately his speech showcased public relations events, political rhetoric, clichés and quotes from non-African thinkers and did not focus on the real state of the city or his administration’s performance in managing the R3 billion collected from rate payers. Reference to work done and accomplishments were conspicuously vague”.
Universally, the key to organisational efficiency is to fulfill the mandate of constituents. In local government, this refers to the efficient provision of service delivery to residents of the city.
Also Read: Mayor Lipudi chased away by community
“In his speech, Lipudi only superficially mentioned shortcomings in service delivery as well as playing down the poor funding of capital projects. A mere 8 per cent of the R3 billion for capital projects is [in fact] a decrease of 23 per cent on the previous year. It does not inspire confidence or ‘the age of hope’ or ‘a new dawn’ to which the Mayor referred.”
Instead, the Mayor claimed that his administration had steered an improvement in service delivery since the beginning of the financial year. “Our City had become a capital of potholes, with unsightly streets because grass cutting was not being done. Potholes are ubiquitous because the service-provider who was awarded the tender to repair potholes by your administration, has not received accreditation. Grass cutting has come to an end because funds for contractors have been depleted; the internal department only has two bush cutters for 700sq kilometres.
So, long grass continues to endanger the lives of motorists and pedestrians.”
As part of its oversight role, the DA must reveal fundamental shortcomings in the ANC administration which are anathema to a R3 billion business. These are based on key service areas highlighted in the address:
• Basic service delivery:
Turn-around time for both project completion and operational maintenance has increased. Residents wait longer to see potholes and water leaks repaired, grass cut, illegally dumped garbage removed or visible policing of our roads by municipal authorities. Servitudes in residential areas are never cleared and create fire, health and pollution hazards for the community. The R10 million spent on the upgrade of Coronation Park is barely visible when passing the park.
• Accountable municipal administration:
Contrary to the report, public participation programmes are almost non-existent. Recently, the change in vendors for the purchase of pre-paid water led to consumers being unable to purchase water during the weekend of 7 April. No public participation had taken place and a warning notice was retrospectively circulated only after DA councillors brought the issue to the attention of the administration.
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