Mayor Khululwa Ncamiso continued the Imbizo roadshow at a packed Titi Jonas Hall in Thornhill for ward 6 residents on Tuesday, May 2.
The mayoral roadshow focuses on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) budget for the year 2023/2024.
Numerous Thornhill residents at the roadshow said they did not know who their ward councillor was, with some going as further as saying they were shocked that community meetings were happening in their ward as they are not aware of them.
In her presentation highlighting the progress made since last year’s imbizo, Ncamiso said the plan to build 524 RDP houses in Thornhill had been approved and 500 of the new project sites would be serviced.
These service sites would be controlled by the municipality and people would be screened for the project, the mayor said. With the issue of the landfill site being a health hazard to the community, Ncamiso said Mphele Engineers was appointed on a three year contract from 1 July 2021 to manage the site as per their SLA requirements. She said the appointed company had minimized the amount of fires over the past year.
The mayor said 52 toilets and 150 water tanks had been installed at Newrest, with 350 land sites allocated. Ncamiso further confirmed that 80 youth between the ages of 18 to 35 years from ward 6, 7, 8 and 9 had been employed to pick up waste for the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). However, the mayor raised a concern of EPWP workers sleeping on the job. “We have a problem with our locations being dirty while EPWP workers are supposed to be helping the municipality to keep the area clean,” the mayor said.
Ncamiso pleaded with residents to not destroy state infrastructure as this sets the municipality back and made an example of the Kenton Hall that was burnt down. “Now we are forced to budget for the same things again with a limited budget and will not be able to make provision for new issues,” she said.
Among others, Thornhill residents complained about the lack of police visibility in the area and the need for streetlights to be installed due to robberies happening in the area. The mayor said although the municipality did not have enough funds, they would include streetlights in the IDP budget.
The mayor asked for cooperation from the residents when it comes to relocation in order for services to reach every area timeously. With the issue of relocation, one resident said some were reluctant to move because they were unemployed and did not have the means to buy building material.
New Rest residents also pleaded for electricity to be installed in their area. They also complained about not receiving assistance at the local clinic and asked for the clinic to be monitored regularly to ensure patients were assisted. In response, a municipal official said that issue was a Department of Health competency.
The following resolutions were identified from the engagement:
- The mayor will address the issue of EPWP workers with supervisors
- Municipality officials will visit the New Rest community to assess the roads
- The mayor will introduce Ward 6 councilor, Edward Walker to the residents and
- The mayor will have a women’s engagement at New Rest as a pilot project
