Turnaround strategy makes progress

Umdoni Municipality‘s mayor, councillor Sibongile Khathi, provided an update on the progress made for the multi-million rand turnaround strategy in Umdoni when she addressed members of the media at a media briefing in council chambers last week.

Since the launch of the operation on May 4 this year, the municipality has already completed a huge portion of the work in an attempt to conduct a wall to wall rehabilitation of the Umdoni community.

“The turnaround strategy is aimed at improving Umdoni’s service delivery through giving much-needed attention to dilapidating infrastructure which includes roads, community facilities, electrification and street lighting,” said mayor Khathi.

The mayor gave a thorough breakdown of the progress to date done through service providers and internal staff.

A budget of R7-mil was allocated to pothole patching for 40 roads in Umdoni. To date, 37 have been completed such as Selbourne Road, Raymond Road, Aubrey Road, Barracuda Road and Douglas Road.

With regards to streetlight maintenance, which is often an issue to many in various wards, a budget of R1.6-mil was allocated. Wards 10 and 15 are still having work done, while wards 11, 12 and 13 have been completed.

An allocation of R16.5-mil was put towards re-gravelling of which 194 stretches of road have been re-gravelled in total.

Steephill construction was given a budget of R3.4-mil of which wards 3, 6, 8, 13 and 16 have been done.

Storm water jetting has been completed in wards 10, 12, 13 and 15 so far with a budget of R800 000.

The budget allocation for electrification was R8-mil. Ward 1 had 264 connections in Ntshaseni completed and is awaiting energising. A Contractor on site is completing the remaining 85 connections in the Mtholi area which is estimated to be done by the end of October.

Other areas such as Kiss Kiss, Alexandre and Mbetheni will be tackled in due time as they are held back awaiting delivery of long lead material.

In terms of verge maintenance, another major issue in Umdoni, 16 service providers have completed their four month working contract already.

“We are currently using an internal team while we explore options of entering into a long-term service contract,” explained mayor Khathi.

The mayor would also like to inform the public of the filling of critical senior management positions.

“The absence of formal employment of the municipal manager (MM) and the chief financial officer (CFO) in the municipality has created instability, thus having implications in the operations of the municipality and provision of service delivery to the communities of Umdoni,” she said.

“And we are extremely grateful for the current acting MM and CFO who continue to hold the fort while these processes of securing working contracts the MM and CFO respectively are being concluded.”

Ntokozo Vilakazi, currently working at Umuziwabantu municipality as a CFO, has been appointed as Umdoni’s CFO and starts her five year contract on September 1.
The appointment was made and duly endorsed by the MEC for Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Sipho Hlumuka.

With regards to the municipal managers appointment, interviews were held on July 30.

Since then, the executive committee made its recommendations to Cogta and await approval by the MEC for a candidate who is expected to begin his/her duty on October 1.

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