CAPRICORN mayor, Lawrence Mapoulo, said service delivery in the Capricorn district improved significantly and that 89% of households in the district now had access to running water in their homes.
Mapoulo delivered his state of the district address in Botlokwa last Tuesday.
“Those who are living in areas that have access to water through RDP standard community taps will be targeted for upgrades to yard connections,” he said.
According to Mapoulo, some 9 809 households received new water connections in the previous financial year. “We work according to a master water plan,” he said.
“We completed a full-scale assessment of the value of the infrastructure of our water assets over the past financial year and replaced 1 200 water meters in Lebowakgomo.
“We want to assure consumers that we are dedicated to put billing systems in place that are credible, effective and accurate. Consumers will only pay for what they use,” said Mapoulo.
He said the municipality was concerned about the 37% unemployment rate in the district. “We need to find efficient mechanisms to free our people from poverty, especially women and young people.
“The Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP)remains a key initiative for empowering the community while rolling out much-needed infrastructure. Some 1 649 job opportunities were created through this programme in the past financial year. We expect this number to increase given that the council has now adopted a new EPWP policy to guide us going forward.”
Mapoulo said Capricorn awarded bursaries to 40 students who wanted to pursue careers in engineering at FET colleges.
“We are on a mission to reduce unemployment to 35% by 2015 and 18% by 2030 through our entrepreneurial support.”
He also touched on sanitation. “Although 65% of households have access to sanitation facilities, there is an urgent need to multiply our efforts in order to make progress in reducing backlogs. The department of cooperative government, human settlement and traditional affairs appointed the Lepelle Northern Water Board to implement 1 200 VIP sanitation units in the district,” he said.
He said Capricorn had connected 90% of households to electricity suppliers in conjunction with Eskom and local municipalities.
Mapoulo said the municipality would continue their efforts to stimulate the economy.
“Capricorn is the third largest contributor to the provincial economy and we embarked on a number of initiatives to cultivate and sustain a favourable environment for the local economy to grow in all sectors; including agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and mining.”
“We will make sure it speaks to the challenges of water, electricity and energy, sanitations, disaster management, health and other challenges.”
