Mayor speaks on the state of Tshwane

By Patrick Hlahla and Mogomotsi Magome

Tshwane executive mayor Dr Gwen Ramokgopa believes that the metro council has made great strides over the past five years.

Speaking at a media briefing after her State of the City address yesterday, she said one of the council's achievements was the provision of basic services to people in the Tshwane metro area.

Her comments came on the same day that protests in Soshanguve and Mamelodi continued, with disgruntled residents complaining about the lack of RDP houses and the poor provision of basic services.

Some schools, including Mamelodi High and Khuthalani Secondary, and the University of Pretoria's Mamelodi campus were closed yesterday and police maintained a heavy presence, although by last night the situation was reported to be calm.

On Monday morning, residents barricaded roads with stones and burnt tyres in Soshanguve. Then, in the evening, frustrated residents of Mamelodi, in particular the informal settlements of Lusaka and Mandela, took to the streets, barricading roads, burning tyres and throwing petrol bombs.

Residents claim they have been waiting for years for houses and that others, including foreigners, have been given preference by bribing corrupt housing officials and councillors. Other areas of protest were over poor service delivery of water, sanitation and electricity.

Ramokgopa said the provision of services was a way to restore the dignity of residents.

The mayor left out several issues in her prepared speech, including the Mosoma commission of inquiry report into the fire at the Kruger Park high-rise flats in which five people died; the suspension of city manager Kiba Kekana, and a recent statement by Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka that Tshwane was the "most vulnerable municipality in Gauteng".

Asked to respond to the minister's assertion, Ramokgopa said Shiceka had not discussed the matter with her, and she could unfortunately not discuss what he had said through the media.

Ramokgopa acknowledged that the past two years had not been easy for Tshwane residents, blaming the global economic meltdown.

Many had lost their jobs, and a number of ratings agencies had downgraded South Africa's investment outlook.

This, she said, had an impact on the cost of credit for infrastructure and development projects across the country.

"Like many locally and internationally, our city was not spared the economic woes as we experienced declining revenues due to the curtailment by households and businesses of utility consumption and many more defaulting on rates and service payments," Ramokgopa said.

She said their mandate when they took office included the provision of quality water and decent sanitation "to those of our citizens who were neglected by the apartheid government".

According to Ramokgopa, the council's "tap in the yard" programme had been delivered as planned. Areas to benefit included Winterveld, Tswaing, Dilopye, Ramotse, Marokolong, New Eersterus, Suurman and Majaneng.

"We are consolidating the programme of waterborne sanitation in these areas as well as in Stinkwater, Mandela Village, Soshanguve South XI, Soshanguve Block TT and TT Ext," she said.

Ramokgopa said the council had an ambitious programme dedicated towards the eradication of informal settlements.

This included building a total of 134 335 houses: 43 600 in the north-east region, 34 992 in the north-west region, 27 203 in the north-east region, 19 800 in the central region, and 8 740 in the southern region.

She admitted that the conversion of hostels was going more slowly than expected because of funding constraints and tensions within the community.

A master plan for the Solomon Mahlangu/Denneboom precinct had now been approved by the council, which would proceed to call for proposals in June.

Reacting to the protests, Ramokgopa said a solution could be found "if we sit around the table to discuss the problems".

She acknowledged the democratic right of residents to protest but rejected the destruction of property and threats to life.

The Gauteng Department of Housing accused residents of invading land which had been earmarked for building 5 000 houses.

"The department has worked very hard in the past three years to acquire the land and communicate its plans with stakeholders in the area," said MEC Kgaogelo Lekgoro.

"We will not tolerate people who try every trick in the book to jump the queue on the housing list," he said.

The ANC's Tshwane region noted the protest actions in Soshanguve and Mamelodi.

The organisation called on residents to engage with councillors and to participate in their ward committees to ensure that service delivery matters were identified and resolved speedily.

Meanwhile, Barry Bateman reports that Tshwane's municipal bus drivers have downed tools for the third time since November, once again leaving the city's paying commuters in the lurch.

The latest wildcat strike comes days after the council settled an illegal strike in the waste removal department and on the day when thousands of Mamelodi residents clashed violently with police over housing provision.

Council spokesperson Dikeledi Phiri confirmed that the drivers had embarked on an unprotected strike and that it was unlikely buses would be running on Wednesday.

She said the drivers had handed a memorandum to management which outlined their grievances.

It is understood that the drivers are unhappy with their director, Barnard Mojapelo, who was appointed in July.

A reliable source in the council explained that the bus drivers were citing bogus grievances against Mojapelo because he had cracked down on errant drivers.

The source said the bus service would implement a new ticketing system from next month - one of Mojapelo's strategies to crack down on ticket fraud.

It was reported in November that the council was investigating about 40 cases of fraud involving around R50 000.

"Some bus drivers pocket fares, that is why people are not happy. The drivers are resistant to positive change, and he is not the first director they are trying to get rid off. He is not getting the necessary support from the council."

A bus driver told the Pretoria News, on condition of anonymity, that a meeting was held yesterday morning where the shop stewards ordered the work stoppage.

The driver said they were fed up with Mojapelo, but did not provide details.

"He gives us headaches," he said. "He does what he wants because he is the boss."

The Pretoria News visited the depot in Church Street around 2.30pm and found about 50 drivers at the front gate.

South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) spokesperson Zebulon Monkwe could not be reached for comment.

• This article was originally published on page 1 of The Pretoria News on March 10, 2010