The City of Joburg engages with the community of Soweto
Numerous communities in Soweto are lacking education especially when it comes to service delivery.
The City of Johannesburg Region D, Soweto embarked on a regional integrated educational and awareness campaign on April 20.
ALSO READ: City of Johannesburg emergency work tom affect Rand Water operations
The purpose of the event was to empower communities by providing information on services offered by the City’s departments and entities.
The campaign was an education and information session where different government departments such as the Johannesburg Roads Agency, Environmental Safety, Building Development Management, Johannesburg City Park and Zoo, Emergency Management Services and Transport Department presented about different services they provide to communities.
According to the Citizen Relationship Management Unit’s Nomvula Dlame, the City has realised that a number of communities in Soweto are lacking education and information especially when it comes to service delivery.
“When we attend the Integrated Development Plan sessions where we focus on big projects, community members tend to ask questions that can be addressed in smaller community sessions.
“So that’s why we felt that such a campaign should be implemented so that we can engage with communities privately,” said Dlame.
The community was given a platform to ask questions, engage with each and every department that took part in the awareness campaign and most importantly they were given an opportunity to come up with solutions as well as ideas.
ALSO READ: Mayor Phalatse pledges more funds for JRA to fix flood-hit roads
“We have priorities and to be honest it seems like council’s priorities are not aligned with society’s needs at this point and time. We are facing the crises of youth unemployment and the government doesn’t seem to be responsive enough to the matter. This was supposed to promote and encourage small businesses in order to fight youth unemployment,” said Buti Mkgalemele a local small business development activist.
All suggestions that were made by residents during the session will be directed to the municipality. Programmes that will be implemented by the Government will be addressed to all different communities in Soweto.
ALSO READ: Reducing illegal dumping in Pimville Zone 7
“I am quite excited about the initiative and I wish this could be something we do more often. Right now the initiative has a lot to unpack but due to not having enough time, not all information was shared with the community,” said Lefa Modise a Counsellor for Ward 39.
Follow Us Here:Â
Catch the latest news by visiting our other platforms:
