Steps announced by ELM last week to begin the process of establishing its promised Mayoral Business Stakeholder Forum have been welcomed with “cautious optimism” by organised business.
Executive Mayor Gift Moerane announced the establishment of two joint task teams on electricity and water/sanitation after an initially heated meeting between a high-level ELM delegation and a broad coalition of business organisations last Friday.
This was after Mayor Moerane earlier committed ELM Municipal Mayor Lucky Leseane to establish the Mayoral Business Forum before the end of August.
“The strategy adopted by the parties is the assumption of collective responsibility in defining and resolving our challenges,” Mayor Moerane
said after the meeting.
Two leading business organisations – the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) and Emfuleni for Change (EFC) – have welcomed
Moerane’s announcement but said they viewed developments with cautious optimism.
Friday’s meeting took place against a background of escalating tension between business organisations and ELM amid severe electricity blackouts in Vanderbijlpark, which have paralysed major businesses such as Cape Gate, Nampak and Collect-aCan, with millions lost daily in production and income.
The meeting was convened by Municipal Manager Lucky Leseane after a crisis sparked by Province-appointed Administrator Willy Bhila not
responding to a recent EFC ultimatum with demands on electricity supply and infrastructure. Bhila did not attend Friday’s meeting but excused himself on personal grounds.
GTCoC President Jaco Verwey headed the organised business delegation at the meeting, also attended by GTCoC CEO Klippies Kritzinger and EFC CEO Gerhard Janse van Rensburg, as well as ERPA Chairperson Kobus Janse van Rensburg amongst other business leaders.
“We welcome the formation of the two task teams on electricity and water/sanitation with cautious optimism and the GTCoC and EFC will do their best to make this work.
But many technical, resource and legal issues must still be considered and resolved before actual implementation of joint projects,” said Verwey.
EFC CEO Gerhard Janse van Rensburg was tasked along with Special ELM Mayoral Advisor Mlungisi Hlongwane to establish the two task teams and report back on September 3 on progress.
The EFC has in recent weeks played a leading role under CEO Gerhard Janse van Rensburg in not only highlighting the “apocalyptic” state of strategic municipal infrastructure but has actually intervened to begin rehabilitation even without ELM’s permission.
Van Rensburg said he was looking forward to creating the task team structures with Hlongwane and the EFC wanted to be operational on actual projects at grass-roots level as soon as possible.
“But we do recognise that much work must still be done and many coordination issues sorted out before we can hit the ground running,” said
Janse van Rensburg.