Midrand, Diepsloot, Ivory Park, and Fourways rudderless following the former regional director’s departure

The community of Region A, comprising the suburbs of Midrand, Diepsloot, Ivory Park, and Fourways, is currently facing a crisis as it struggles to find direction without a regional director.

Abigail Ndlovu, a respected and well-loved regional director for Region A who retired in December last year, has left behind a huge void that the City is struggling to fill.

Residents and councillors alike are feeling the impact of Ndlovu’s departure, with many describing the situation as ‘rudderless and turbulent’.

Madeleine Hicklin, a former ward councillor in the region and the Democratic Alliance’s political head in Midrand lamented the situation, stating that Region A was once a flagship of the city and a region that was proactively well-run because of its strong leadership.

Ward 132 councillor Annette Deppe echoed Hicklin’s sentiments, stating that the community had lost a leader who inspired her team and was able to get people to rally behind her.

She had the buy-in of many entities, councillors, and residents because of her willingness to work with them and to serve the needs of all the residents of Midrand.

“Since Ndlovu’s departure, Midrand has struggled to find any kind of direction and meaningful way forward,” Deppe explained.

“Communication from the City of Johannesburg’s entities, such as JRA, City Power, and Joburg Water, has been sporadic at best and non-existent most of the time. This has made the lives of councillors difficult, as they can only feed information to residents as entities feed information to them.”

Despite the challenges, councillors are determined to continue seeking answers for their residents in the region.

They believe that with the right leadership, the community of Region A can once again become a shining example of a well-run and proactive region.

“When Abigail was our regional director we always had someone we could turn to, someone who fought for residents and someone who had their interests at heart. Now we are on our own and we are battling to get the entities to respond to our requests for adequate information in real time. We will not be deterred, we will continue to seek answers for our residents in the Region.”

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