Just like the Mpumalanga premier, Mandla Ndlovu, dreams big to drive inclusive growth and job creation, the Ehlanzeni District Municipality’s new executive mayor, Cllr Terra Shabangu, has announced that the district has sourced R10.6m for infrastructure skills development grant funding over the next three-year period.

This was at his first State of the District Address (SODA) held at the municipality’s Disaster Management Centre on August 1.

Shabangu said the district municipality has appointed eight young graduates in the fields of engineering, town planning and environmental management benefitting from this programme.

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He said the municipality is ready and willing to collaborate with the premier within the framework of the District Development Model. “We want our district turned into a massive construction site for the benefit of the 2.27 million people in Ehlanzeni.

The administration of the national government has set priorities for the Government of National Unity to drive inclusive growth and job creation, to reduce poverty, to tackle the high cost of living and to build a capable, ethical and developmental state.”

Already hitting the ground running, Shabangu’s priority is to fill all general manager positions and ensure a full complement of members of the mayoral committee within the first 100 days in the mayoral office.

“I admit I have big shoes to fill with my predecessor, Jesta Sidell. While the district has achieved many service delivery projects over the past three years, such as the rehabilitation of streets and water provision in various local municipalities, there are a number of catalytic projects that are unfunded, such as the improvement of the biodiversity corridor from Barberton to Richards Bay via Elukwatini, the Sabie Forestry Park, the Nkomazi Special Economic Zone and the Driekoppies Dam Leisure & Entertainment Park.”

With the goal to maintain the district’s clean audit streak, sitting at 13 clean audits in the past 15 years, Shabangu said the key focus it to implement the project accordingly to the budgets allocated.

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He said the district and its local municipalities have been allocated R4.5b over the medium-term revenue and expenditure framework for technical services.

Some of the budgeted projects mentioned by Shabangu in his address include the refurbishing of two sewer pump stations in Mashishing at a projected cost of R2m, the completion of the Sibange Regional Bulk Water Scheme in Nkomazi at a cost of R79m, some road rehabilitation

materials and small plant and equipment at a budget of R13.5m, installation of four water boreholes in Bushbuckridge and Nkomazi at a cost of R6.5m, the roll-out phase 2 of the rehabilitation of tourism routes in Barberton at a cost of R4m, the installation of the high mast lights for public lighting estimated at the cost of R5.25m, and the roll-out of the skip bin programme and procurement of three skip loader trucks to deal with illegal dumping, at a cost of R3.7m.