R63 million to be spent on water infrastructure upgrades

JEPPES REEF – Nkomazi Local Municipality mayor, Ms Thulisile Khoza, announced what the municipality plans to spend their money on during her budget speech at the Jeppes Reef Community Hall last Thursday.

Khoza reflected on the national development programme and the ANC’s successes. She remarked that “the ANC government continues to soldier on in defending and advancing the collective interest of the majority of our people.”

The mayor then touched on the issue of dispossession of land without compensation and stated that it would be “tantamount to solving one problem by creating another.” She continued by saying that the municipality believed fair and equitable compensation was also a critical component in such transactions.

Khoza stated that the municipality was working with the private sector to provide support to the developments around Malalane and Komatipoort, including a special economic zone development which it believed would create many job opportunities.

She stated her disappointment with communities which burned down libraries and schools, and used poor service delivery as an excuse. “It simply doesn’t make sense to destroy what you already have to get what you want.”

Khoza reviewed the successes and challenges of the council’s five-year mandate and stated that it was clear that a lot more work remained. Some included the rehabilitation of Driekoppies, KaMhlushwa and KaMaqhekeza stadiums, bus routes in, among others, Driekoppies and Boschfontein, the construction of the Dludluma and Jeppes Reef community halls and several water reticulation, sanitation and electrification projects.

Turning to the current budget she stated, “We have attempted to cut the fat and ensured that our limited resources are used for the most required of services”.

R15 million will be committed towards a 15-kilometre reticulation project in Nkanini Block B and R9,9 million to replace a five-kilometre PVC pipe with a steel one in Block C. R63 million will be used to upgrade water infrastructure in areas such as Mjejane, Mangweni, Marloth Park, Komatipoort, Malalane and Langeloop.

R20 million will be used to upgrade sanitation infrastructure in several villages, and R1,8 million for a landfill site in Steenbok.

Bus routes in Boschfontein and Schulzendal B will be upgraded for R6 million and R12 million respectively.

R12 million will go toward electrification projects. R5 million will be used to build a community hall in Block B and R7 million for one in Boschfontein.

Mbuzini Stadium will receive an R8-million upgrade, and a sport facility in Magnweni a R4-million upgrade.

Municipal rates will increase. Property by six per cent, electricity by 7,64 per cent, refuse removal by 10 per cent and water, sanitation and others with seven per cent.

Exemptions and rebates for pensioners, sporting bodies, welfare organisations and educational facilities were also announced.

The mayor concluded by thanking everyone for their hard work, continued support and guidance. “None of us should rest until the socio-economic circumstances of all our people has changed for the better,” she said.