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THE SOWETOBULLETIN
Tell us when we go astray, MMC tells IDP meeting
Johannesburg Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Corporate and Shared Services Councillor Mally Mokoena at the weekend urged residents of Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, to jealously protect public facilities built
NEWS
25 April - 15 May 2015
for them by the City. MMC Mokoena appealed to the residents, who came in large numbers and filled the Chris Hani Hall to capacity, not to vandalise their public halls and parks. She said they should instead
take ownership of them. The MMC was speaking during a City of Johannesburg’s Integrated Development Planning (IDP) session in the area. “These facilities belong to you and you should protect and own them,” she said. She added that through Jozi@ Work, the City was committed to improving people’s lives. Responding to residents’ complaints about the lack of service delivery, MMC Mokoena said communities should share facilities and that it was not feasible to provide public amenities such as parks and libraries in each and every ward. She said Orange Farm was on top of the City’s priority list in aspects such as education. As a result, it had given the top four performing schools in the area cash incentives, laptops and tablets. Saturday’s gath-
ering was part of a series of ongoing regional cluster meetings or “community conversations” at which residents are expected to give their inputs into the draft IDP. The 130 wards of the City are clustered together according to geographic proximity and overlapping attributes and developmental needs. Included in the documents are the City’s proposals on tariffs for essential services such as water, electricity, refuse removal, as well as draft property rates and taxes for the 2015-2016 financial year. The IDP is a multi-year strategic plan that contains the City’s strategies and implementation plans required to achieve it vision. The process will culminate in a stakeholder engagement session on Saturday when the submissions and proposals from the various cluster meetings will be communicated, discussed and, where applicable, incorporated into the final IDP document. City departments and municipal-owned entities such as Pikitup, City Power, Johannesburg Roads Agency and Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) were well-represented at the Orange Farm meeting. MMC Mokoena said she was elated with the huge turnout and said it was imperative that the City received input from the public so as to know where
it was going astray. Enoch Sibiya, of Ward 1, blamed the City for the lack of development in the area and said their complaints had fallen on deaf ears. Sibiya said residents wanted to have a high school because their children walked long distances to the nearest one. He added that there were no proper roads and that the only available park was not maintained. Owen Mnqanduli, a Poortjie resident and a member of SA National Civic Organisation, said there was no clinic in the area. Mnqanduli said many people lived in shacks and when they complained to political leaders all they got were promises. Ewarts Malose, Region G Assistant Director: Housing, said residents must beware of bogus land owners and bogus title deeds. JMPD Regional Director Monica Kaizer appealed to residents to inform them about drug dealers by visiting JMPD offices or calling (011) 375-5999. Region G Operational Manager Gorda Phaliso told residents that Johannesburg Water was in the process of building a water reservoir in Orange Farm. He asked them to protect the reservoir and appealed to them not to waste water. www.joburg.org.za