Ekurhuleni mayor to set up ‘service delivery war room’

Ekurhuleni metro executive mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza has promised to create 16,000 jobs and implement tight fiscal discipline to turn around the fortunes of a municipality that is not collecting enough revenue and is battling several service delivery challenges.

In his maiden state of the city address at the Germiston Civic Centre council chambers on Tuesday, Xhakaza, the ANC councillor who succeeded former mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana, who was removed through a no-confidence vote, undertook to fast-track service delivery projects, create jobs and embark on a “massive drive to attract investment”.

ANC Gauteng chair and premier Panyaza Lesufi and former mayor and minister of communications & digital technologies Mondli Gungubele attended the address.

Xhakaza said his administration had identified the following pillars that would take the metro forward:

• Extending municipal services to all residents.

• Rebuilding a strong financial base to support development.

• Conducting essential repairs and maintenance of public facilities.

• Investment in critical infrastructure in partnership with the private sector.

• Economic development, growth and job creation.

• Preserving good, ethical governance.

Ekurhuleni is a crucial industrial, manufacturing and logistics hub in Gauteng. OR Tambo International Airport, one of Africa’s largest, is situated in the municipality.

However, like its sister metros Johannesburg and Tshwane, Ekurhuleni is dogged by a litany of service delivery challenges such as a lack of access to housing, water and electricity, poor and crumbling infrastructure, joblessness, crime, poverty and fiscal pressures.

Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service recently sent the rating of the Ekurhuleni metro further into junk territory and placed Tshwane’s on review for a downgrade for failure to submit its audited financial statements by February 29. The ratings agency downgraded Ekurhuleni’s long-term issuer (domestic), senior unsecured ratings to Caa2, three notches below the highest junk status, reflecting a high credit risk.

“We remain concerned about the state of our finances, mainly because we seem not to be collecting enough revenue. Our finances are also not aligned to our priorities,” said Xhakaza.

“The stability of our finances will go a long way to restoring all the major outstanding infrastructure projects, including the reservoirs, the Thembisa Extension 25 housing project and other outstanding major infrastructure projects.”

There was a need to design the city’s budget to meet the needs of township residents while striking a balance with those in the suburbs.

“In the area of [capital expenditure] we must do more to be able to improve our spending patterns. We will be putting in place mechanisms to improve capex and grant spending. I am introducing a mayoral war room solely for this purpose,” he said.

Xhakaza, an old hand in council affairs, said the metro planned to create 16,000 jobs through the expanded public works and the community work programmes, among other schemes.

Job creation, and access to water and electricity have become key electioneering themes before the elections.

Xhakaza referred to train manufacturer Gibela, which had created almost 1,200 full-time jobs at its plant in Nigel, where 203 new-look trains had been manufactured “at a rate of 62 a year for the past three years”.

“In terms of economic emancipation, Gibela has spent R161m in direct procurement from local suppliers in the immediate vicinity of Nigel, Duduza, Springs, KwaThema and Tsakani, among others,” the mayor said.

He said political stability in the metro would be the cornerstone for the remainder of the current term of office, which he said would be characterised by “quality, sustained and equitable service delivery”.

Izimbizo

He said that during the 2016 to 2021 term, R24.9bn had been invested in infrastructure projects. They included electrifying informal settlements and constructing substations; constructing reservoirs and towers, metering, pipeline and sewer upgrades; rolling out information and communications technology infrastructure; construction of four minibus taxi ranks; and maintenance of parks and cemeteries.

Xhakaza said when the DA-led coalition took over power from the ANC in 2021, “we saw service delivery taking place mainly in suburbia and very little, if any, in the townships. Roads were riddled with potholes, there was a collapse of waste removal services and service delivery protests became the order of the day”.

Xhakaza said areas requiring urgent attention that would be part of his 100 days in office programme included restoring the mayoral izimbizo to give feedback on service delivery to residents; operation clean audit; reclaiming and refurbishing hijacked buildings; and setting up a “robust service delivery war room”.

mkentanel@businesslive.co.za