War Room’s arsenal grows

AFTER a year in operation, the ward 66 War Room has been energised by the inclusion of a dedicated municipality senior skills development manager.

Ward 66 councillor and chairman of the War Room, Duncan Du Bois welcomes the appointment of Thomas Mketelwa who will report directly to the city manager.

Each established War Room has been provided with a liaison like Mketelwa, whose function it is to deal with backlogs in dealing with problems facing the community. In the last year, much has been put forward by the members of the ward 66 War Room, who faced prolonged delays in reaction time from the relevant officials.

“Within hours of his participation in the War Room meeting on July 15, Mketelwa had fired off emails to officials concerning issues, which seem either to defy resolution or which have been dragging on. I welcome his intervention in putting pressure on officials to appreciate that the vacant land in Bushland Road needs to be sold for proper development,” said Du Bois.

The land, which has been a source of concern for the councillor since before the inception of the War Room, belongs to KZN Housing Department and suffers from maintenance and dumping difficulties.

“The plot is ideal for residential development and would add to the municipality’s rate base instead of languishing in an undeveloped state. Two other issues Mr Mketelwa is pursuing concerns the proposed upgrade and refurbishment of the Donnelly Road housing scheme in Wentworth, which is supposed to commence in August, and the Bluff beaches upgrade. A report-back on the public input made in respect of the upgrade last October is overdue and a fresh round of stakeholder views was supposed to have taken place this month. One hopes Mr Mketelwa’s initiatives will bear fruit.”