Ekurhuleni rewarded
At the council meeting held last Thursday, Mayor Mondli Gungubele proudly stated that in a recent competition, Ekurhuleni won the award for greenest metro from the Department of Environmental Affairs.
This award came with a cash prize of R3.5 million which Gungubele said will be used to fund the projects that promote environmental projects and green economy in the city.
During the council meeting, there was a strong focus on Women’s Month. The mayor focused on the amount of rape and correctional rape happening in the city.
“The murder of Duduzile Zozo in June shook the city of Ekurhuleni. I want to condemn the occurrences happening in Daveyton as well where children commit violent acts against the relatives in the name of a cult religion.
“I call upon all of us to join the call to fight this scourge that is threatening social stability in our communities,” the mayor said.
He then moved on to more positive aspects happening in the city.
“For the past four years, we have been getting the Blue Drop status, meaning our water quality is excellent and is rated the best drinking water in the country,” he said.
The mayor said that the metro is on course to make themselves a service delivery machine and has implemented an Institutional Review which has already improved on monitoring service delivery and identifying key areas of improvement.
“Since the State of the City Address, we have constructed and opened the new Disaster Management Satellite Office in Tsakane, bought nine specialised vehicles for Emergency Services and trained a team of 400 people as our fire brigade reserve force.”
The metro has also bought 66 Disaster and Emergency Management Services vehicles, 57 waste management trucks and 18 water tankers.
In his conclusion, the mayor said that on August 14 and 15 the Mayoral Imbizo programme will take place, which brings the metro to the people.
“We will go back to our communities and look at the progress made and talk about the challenges being experienced.”
He closed by saying, “public participation is the corner stone of our democracy and we have made it a very strategic priority in our endeavour for a clean and inclusive governance.”
The overall response to the mayor’s address was positive, with only a few concerns by other parties.
The IFP said that corruption was still a challenge facing the metro and that the living conditions of people living in hostels and informal settlements is also a big issue.
DA caucus leader Shelley Loe acknowledged the fact that the metro was doing something about the serious issue of toilets in the city.
“After my speech last month, I and other councillors attended MMC Nxumalo’s Sanitation Indaba last week, which demonstrated that he at least, is no longer in denial about the disgraceful state of affairs in informal settlements.”
Loe also addressed the issue of illegal dumping, which has become a problem in Springs as well as other parts of Ekurhuleni.
“While we were doing the rounds of informal settlements, it was impossible not to see the mountains of rubbish that people have to live with to the point that I am astonished that this council has won a Green Award.”
She closed her comment on a concern, in keeping with the theme of Women’s Month, that many clinics are running out of contraceptive pills and injections and do not expect stock for another two months. She urged the council to look into this matter urgently.
