STEVEN LANG
Journalists in Makhanda were more than a little intrigued when Makana Municipality mayor, Yandiswa Vara, invited them for a media briefing about “key issues pertaining to extreme changes in the municipality”. When they arrived at Council Chambers they were even more curious to learn that the briefing included site visits to witness the “extreme changes”.
Vara and members of her Mayoral Committee escorted the media contingent, which included two national television broadcasters, on a circuit through Makhanda East. She described the setting as resembling a construction site where arterial roads are being resurfaced. Previously potholed tarmac roads are being newly laid with bricks which are more resilient to the weather and easier to maintain.
The site visits included stops on Albert, Ncame, Albany and Fitchat Streets where journalists could see progress made on the upgrading projects. There was also a brief stopover in front of a project where the Department of Human Settlements is constructing 178 houses.
The construction is part of the municipality’s ‘Changing City’ initiative that has seen Vara adapt her Mayoral Committee to improve oversight across the directorates. She also announced that Makana Municipality was about to appoint a new head for the Infrastructure and Technical Services Directorate after being without a director for more than a year.
While the site visits highlighted the road upgrading projects, the Makana Mayor focussed on water supply issues when the briefing continued at Council Chambers in Makana City Hall. She said that the biggest challenges are faced in repairing and replacing the more than 400 kms of (mainly asbestos) pipes. She noted that there has been significant progress in the supply of bulk water to Makhanda but that there are still problems with the reticulation grid serving local residences and businesses.
Acting infrastructure director Makaya Dungu said his teams are connecting new isolation valves to replace old equipment in the reticulation system. This means that if plumbers are repairing a pipe burst they will not have to cut the water supply to large swathes of the town and only the immediate area will be affected.
Vara said that “Exciting progress is underway on the eastern side, with similar projects set to unfold on the western side soon”. She remarked however that funding is a problem as residents currently owe the municipality R750 million.
