A town with a top municipality
There's no bigger oxymoron than residents literally complaining over a great many privileges afforded to them by a working municipality.
It could have been much worse. As a town we could’ve been held hostage by Eskom like in eMalahleni, due to hundreds of millions of electricity debt. We have none. We could have driven zig-zag across lanes to dodge potholes like in eMalahleni. But when we report a pothole it gets fixed. We could have had unending water interruptions, often days long, like our neighbours. But burst water pipes, due to an aged asbestos infrastructure network, get fixed within hours, even during nighttimes. And, the entire network is being replaced by PVC pipes, which is ongoing. We could have had an overgrown cemetery, overrun by criminals. But ours are being kept, is safe and we’re actually getting more land for more cemeteries. We could have had a stadium in ruin. But we don’t. Our municipal swimming pool is a preferred destination for the province’s top swimming events. We have, more than once, played host to the SA cross country championships. In fact, it’s not a stadium, but a well kept sports complex, offering aerobics, karate, soccer, rugby, netball, tennis, ring ball, bowls, even bootcamp classes for Mhluzi’s elderly. This week the municipality released the personal contact details for all the municipality’s executive directors, including the cell numbers for Municipal Manager Mr Bheki Khenisa and acting mayor, in order for the community to contact them directly with any complaints or emergencies. Www.mobserver.co.za gets daily updates from the municipality on Mayor Bagudi Tolo’s recuperation in hospital from Covid-19. We don’t have to guess. There’s not one council sitting that goes by where www.mobserver.co.za is not warmly welcomed by Speaker Andries Mabena. If there’s a problem, like with the Gholfsig substation which blew up twice, Mr Khenisa often personally corral the media into his chambers to explain what the municipality is doing, face to face with journalists, often flanked by his executive directors to go into finer details if necessary. Illegal dumping is not the municipality’s fault, and yet when the mess is reported, it gets cleaned up immediately. In total, 30 new law enforcement officers have been, or will soon be, appointed to enforce the town’s bylaws. Forced to make a living from your backyard? The municipality supports you, and is even building an industrial node to relocate the backyard businesses too, to make them more formal, more controlled, more professional, more businesslike, to the benefit of customers and business owners. Stop complaining. Smell the coffee. As stated throughout, it could have been much worse!
