East councillors’ Christmas messages
As it draws to an end some of the local councillors shared some oftheir highlights and low-lights of the year and festive messages for residents in their respective wards and regions.
A year filled with frustrations, anger and joy. That was 2017. Some parts of Pretoria experienced rapid increases in various crimes, prompting local authorities, leaders and councillors alike to take severe steps.
As the year draws to an end, some of the local councillors shared some of their highlights and lowlights of the year and festive messages for residents in their respective wards and regions.
Ernst Botha:
The community faced a challenging year in 2017 as far as crime was concerned. But 2017 also proved what is possible when we take hands and work together as a community to achieve our objectives through active citizenry.
A specific area targeted by criminals was the Faerie Glen nature reserve. This led to random patrols on horseback by Tshwane metro police.
I am very happy to note that these efforts bore fruit and crime in the reserve drastically reduced.
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Francois Bekker:
We reflect on the past year on a personal and professional level. Every year has its fair share of challenges, achievements and even disappointments.
Residents in ward 83 will attest to the fact that turnaround times for attending to broken streetlights, burst water pipe and power outages are much faster.
One achievement that makes me very proud is the open piece of land on the corner of Nossob Street and Delmas Road in Erasmuskloof that is being fenced off by the owners after I appealed to them to do so.
This will surely assist in curbing the illegal dumping that took place over the past months.
For me, Christmas time is family time. My wish for the residents in my ward is to have quality family time, to unwind but also to travel and to be safe wherever you are.
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Jacqui Uys:
As the festive season is now upon us I am grateful for the connections built with the community who work hand in hand with me to uplift ward 85.
I wish all the residents of the ward a blessed end of year and that each and all get some well-deserved rest.
During 2017 the executive mayor of the city of Tshwane visited our ward and conducted oversight to the various areas of informal trading, where he experienced first-hand the challenge posed by both residents and traders.
Reyaan Uys:
A few highlights have been the installation of new streetlights in Zwavelpoort as well as the commencement of streetlight installation in Garstfontein Drive.
This will have a massive impact on both motorist and pedestrian safety.
We had oversight visits from the MMC of roads and stormwater as well as a member of the provincial legislature regarding the state of some of the roads in the ward.
We also had the MMC of utilities visit and provide feedback on the electricity issues experienced in Zwavelpoort and Olympus AH with ring feeds being installed.
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I would like to wish all residents a restful and safe festive season and ask those that are travelling, be safe, not to drink and drive and to stick to the speed limit.
Rita Aucamp:
It was a trying and testing year for the residents of ward 47. We had severe service outages due to an aged infrastructure, and reasonable timeous service delivery was tested on a number of occasions. On some occasions more successful than others, but issues in most cases were solved in a reasonable time.
Wingate and Elardus Park residents had a severe encounter with the Garstkloof landfill site and the spontaneous combustion that happened during November this year.
A number of issues such as the half-built Villa mall and illegal trading and dumping are not yet solved, but in partnership with the city and the community I am tackling all issues and will endeavour to succeed in having all resolved.
I would like to wish all residents of ward 47 and Tshwane a merry Christmas. May the spirit of Christmas fill our hearts and homes.
Phillip Nel:
The past year was a real challenge for the residents in ward 42. They had to live through frequent (sometimes more than one per week) interruptions in the electricity supply due to cable theft.
The local water distribution reticulation also suffered from the contractors.
Other challenges are caused by bylaw infringements. Speeding through the suburbs is common and illegal dumping has increased.
On the positive side, the municipality has twice brought large teams to the ward to clean up the streets, public spaces and stormwater catch pits.
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Communication with residents has also improved. More than 5 000 residents regularly receive general information via the LocalBlock platform and more than 900 participate live on 12 focussed WhatsApp groups on all matters relating to municipal services and real urgent community issues.
On the safety front, the Brooklyn sector 4 was able to elect a new committee and a draft plan for controlled access to Waterkloof and Waterkloof Ridge zone north of Eridanus was developed.
I am excited by the new design philosophy where pedestrians are not inconvenienced and motorists don’t experience delays.
I wish all residents of Tshwane a merry Christmas.
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