City of Tshwane launches climate action plan to ensure a climate-resilient city by 2050

The environment and its sustainability should be a key priority of all governments and the Democratic Alliance (DA) is proud of the progress made under the Executive Mayor, Randall Williams, in highlighting this key task.

The launch of the City of Tshwane Climate Action Plan is a massive step in the right direction to ensuring a net-zero carbon and climate-resilient city by 2050.

Sound management of our environment and its natural resources is a key objective if we want to ensure long term economic and environmental sustainability.

The City of Tshwane has made a profound commitment to ensuring the city is future-proofed against the damaging impacts caused by climate change while ensuring they also reduce their greenhouse gas emissions that have a major effect of global warming.

Through the leadership of Mayor Williams, the City of Tshwane is now the first Metropolitan Municipality in South Africa to identify climate risk zones. A climate risk zone is a geographical area that is at risk of being severely affected by climate hazards.

The plans that are highlighted in the city’s approach aim to reduce the exposure that vulnerable communities may face as a result of climate change.

The city of Tshwane’s climate action plan is guided by scientific evidence and uses data to ensure that future strategies are sound and secure.

The DA set out a clear objective of bringing environmental sustainability to help protect the citizens. We commend Mayor Williams for pushing the City of Tshwane in a positive direction and ensuring climate change is taken seriously and tackled as a matter of urgency.

259 Ambulance accidents in Gauteng

Gauteng’s emergency response times to save lives are hindered by a high accident rate, with 259 ambulances involved in accidents in 2020 and 2021.

This information was revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

According to Mokgethi, R8.3 million was spent on accident repairs, and 40 disciplinary hearings were held concerning these accidents, which resulted in final written warnings for misconduct.

I am greatly concerned that more than one in five of Gauteng’s 1221 emergency ambulances were involved in accidents over a two-year period.

Some of these ambulances were written off, and others were off the road for a long time because of slow repairs.

Currently, 140 ambulances are not operational, which leads to lives being lost due to slow response times. The department says that these ambulances are not in service because “daily downtime that sees vehicles taken for scheduled services, and unplanned (breakdowns) repairs and maintenance.”

According to international standards, Gauteng should have one ambulance for every 10 000 people as well as 10% more for a buffer, which amounts to 1795 ambulances.

We are therefore short of about 600 ambulances to provide a decent emergency service.

Better management is needed to cut down on reckless ambulance driving and to ensure that people needing emergency care are reached as soon as possible.

DA commends locals for cleaning Union Buildings following strike actions

Note to Editors: Please find pictures of the clean up here, here and here.

Striking miners and artisans belonging to NUM and AMCU, who were camped outside the Union Buildings lawn for the past two weeks, have vacated the premises.

The miners were on a three-month strike action over a wage dispute and were appealing to the President for intervention.

The Union Buildings and surrounding areas were left dirty and the Presidency, who is responsible for the upkeep of this area, did not do so.

The protesters had no access to formal ablution facilities and the City of Tshwane had to intervene and ensure that waste was collected.

Over the weekend, local residents intervened and cleaned the area themselves. The DA wishes to applaud all those who were involved – Ms Catherine Keyworth and her team from the Arcadia CID, volunteers from Reliable House in Hatfield and fellow DA Caucus members that stepped up.

The DA in Tshwane will engage with our counterpart in the National Government and Provincial Legislature to ensure that there are mechanisms in place to deal with the upkeep of the Union Building in cases of such strike actions and protests.

We will also request a resolution on which spaces can be occupied and discuss solutions to avoid prolonged stand-offs in the future.

Crime in Jukulyn so rife, councillors and officials are escorted to deliver services

Residents in Jukulyn, Soshanguve, are increasingly in danger due to the rise in crime in the area. It hinders service delivery as councillors and officials have to ask for a police escort to deliver services to communities.

Crime syndicates within the area have continuously attacked and robbed local businesses and residents.

Technicians and artisans are attacked leaving essential services such as water leaks, power cuts and sewerage system blockages unattended.

This has resulted in councillors and officials calling on the Rietgat Police Station, which is already under-resourced and stretched, as well as the Tshwane Metro Police Department to assist with escorts to the areas.

The DA is also concerned with the allegations received that children as young as 12 are being taught how to use firearms to advance the agenda of these crime syndicates and gangs who have appeared to be setting up their crime hubs within local abandoned RDP houses.

Residents are not safe as they commute to and from work with daily attacks targeting their belongings.

Courier and furniture delivery vans have been hijacked and bakeries are robbed of bread.

Ambulance services have their tyres and batteries stolen resulting in the non-collection of patients. Some die as they do not receive urgent medical attention. Even social workers are unable to render the much needed social services as they are being targeted too.

The DA will escalate these concerns to our counterpart in the Provincial Legislature, asking for an investigation into the causes of crime, and oversight to the community and police station to ascertain what challenges they face so they can be addressed through the Provincial Community Safety Committee.

The safety of our residents and the delivery of services is a priority and the DA will do everything in its power to shine the light on the dark elements within this community and prioritise the issues as a matter of urgency.

Parking crises worsens at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital

I have been inundated with calls this week from patients and staff members who cannot access the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital because of the unresolved parking crisis.

This is causing a major disruption in treatment because staff are starting work late and patients are missing appointments.

In one instance, a radiologist who normally arrives early to start at 7.30 am was only able to get parking an hour later.

Another problem is that there are long queues for patients to even get into the hospital. Old and sick people stand outside in the cold for a long period.

According to a recent presentation to the Gauteng Legislature’s Health Committee, “temporary access and temporary parking” is scheduled for June to July this year, and additional parking from July to October 2022.

But the current situation has worsened for unexplained reasons.

Urgent intervention is needed to solve the parking and queuing crisis at this hospital which is battling to make up huge backlogs because of the fire in April last year.

Sedibeng fresh produce market has the potential to create over 4000 jobs if properly managed

Despite falling into disrepair, the Sedibeng fresh produce market has the potential of ensuring that Gauteng residents are given an extra boost in food security.

During a recent oversight visit to the market with the Gauteng Portfolio Committee on Finance, I had the opportunity to see the first-hand difference this market can make to the economy of this province when it is fully restored.

The Gauteng Infrastructure Finance Agency (GIFA) is responsible for taking government projects from initiation to the financial close stages and we are confident that this agency can make a success of the Sedibeng fresh produce market.

While we are yet to see the value GIFA has added to projects, this project might be the one where they can finally prove that they have a place in building new infrastructure and attracting private investors to fund and participate in projects in Gauteng.

This project can be regarded as low hanging fruit, but it is the perfect opportunity for GIFA to win back the trust of the DA and the residents of Gauteng.

If GIFA is successful, then this market, which was once the goose that laid the golden egg, but had no money for regular maintenance and upgrades, can be restored to its former glory.

This also means that farmers who drive to the Johannesburg fresh produce market but have their farms located closer to the Sedibeng area will no longer have to drive a long distance, which in turn means that the price of their goods may now be a bit lower.

In addition, it means that the embattled Emfuleni Local Municipality can potentially earn 8% per annum from the concessionaire.

Furthermore, more than 4000 jobs can potentially be created which will assist in reducing the unemployment rate in our province.

While we support this project which is being run by GIFA, we will be closely monitoring the progress made. Projects like the Kopanong precinct and the Jewellery Hub which have not fully gotten off the ground, despite being in the works for years, have led us to question whether GIFA should still be in existence.

This Sedibeng fresh produce market project is an opportunity for this entity to restore our faith in it. Should it not be making progress on the project as it should, we will ask through the committee that all the officials involved be held to account.

Over 1956 unfinished houses while GP has a huge housing waiting list backlog

Over 1956 housing units are still incomplete while some are in various stages of construction, yet the Gauteng Department of Human Settlement has spent over R1 billion on 17 unfinished housing projects across the province.

The beneficiaries of these housing projects are in dire need of dignified housing for their families and have been severely affected by the long wait.
Only 340 incomplete houses will be completed in the 2022/23 financial year as well as the technical assessment of 1114 houses to determine the amount of work that needs to be done and the timelines for completion.

This information was revealed by the Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Lebogang Maile, in a written reply to my questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).

According to MEC, the department has spent R1 371 625 382.09 of the R16 450 401 283.7 initial allocated budget for these housing projects.

This is extremely concerning as the department has spent over R1 billion while some of these projects have used up their initial budget and some have underspent or spent nothing at all on the projects. The 3H Tamboville Proper and Wattville projects have used their entire budgets, while 3O Tswelopele Ext 6/Winnie Mandela Park and SD Tudor Shaft (HAD) Kagiso Ext 13 projects have spent zero of their allocated budgets.

Despite this department not having a proper comprehensive plan to accommodate the beneficiaries of these unfinished housing projects, some of these projects are still at the beginning stages with only the preliminary assessments having been done.

The longer these housing structures remain incomplete, the more vulnerable they are to vandalism and illegal occupation which will cost the department more money to fix or rebuild and evict illegal occupants.

The DA demands that MEC Maile must get his ducks in a row and prioritise completing these unfinished housing projects. Some of the people who have been on the housing waiting list have passed away and left their children struggling without dignified housing. Their children will continue to be exposed to inhuman living conditions and there is no hope that they will ever receive houses.

We will be conducting oversight inspections of these unfinished housing projects to ascertain what needs to be done to speed up the completion process so that the rightful beneficiaries can be allocated.

Johannesburg Central and Honeydew residents are under seige

The residents of Honeydew and Johannesburg Central areas are living in fear for their lives and their belongings, according to the fourth quarter crime statistics of 2021/2022.

The two police stations recorded the highest number of serious crimes in the province which is a clear indication that the residents of the juristic of these police stations are in danger. This is a result of the law enforcement agencies’ failure to ensure their safety and prevent crime.

Johannesburg Central Police Station is leading in Gauteng with the highest number of cases in the below crimes:

Community reported serious crimes:2021
Contact crime: 988
Murder: 35
Kidnapping:40
Trio crimes: 83
Robbery at non-residential premises:61
Robbery in cash in transit:1

In second position is the Honeydew Police station which has recorded the following cases in the below crimes:

Community reported serious crimes: 2149
Contact crime: 724
Rape: 45
Trio Crimes:122
Carjacking: 45
Robbery at residential premises: 38

These crime statistics are extremely worrying as these two police stations have been constantly in the top five in the province in terms of serious crimes being reported.

Honeydew SAPS is struggling to ensure residents’ safety because it lacks adequate resources, and it covers a huge area which includes Cosmo City and Zandspruit Informal Settlement. The resources at this police station are overstretched and there is an urgent need for two police stations to ensure that proper policing takes place.

For far too long, the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko and the SAPS Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela have promised to intervene and assist these worst performing police stations. Surely, these crime statistics are a clear indication that their interventions are not yielding any positive results.

The only solution to this problem is to speed up the adoption of the DA’s Community Safety Oversight Bill which will give the Gauteng Department of Community Safety powers to do oversight to improve police intelligence and fight and prevent crime.

The DA will also continue to fight to ensure that all our police stations are well equipped with all the necessary resources to fight crime. We will be conducting oversight inspections to the Honeydew and Johannesburg Central police stations to ascertain their challenges and report back to the department which has a responsibility of ensuring the safety of our residents.

Merafong conducts endless oversight visits while sinkholes threaten the safety of Khutsong residents

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is concerned for the safety and well-being of Khutsong residents in Merafong Local Municipality due to the increasing number of sinkholes forming in the area.

Some of the sinkholes formed in 2019 and the municipality has failed to come up with a plan to fix them. Instead, there are endless oversight visits and inspections but no solution has been offered to fix the situation. See photos here, here, here and here.

The Mayor and various officials have visited Khutsong, all making promises to fix the sinkholes and yet they remain open and unfixed.

Some houses have been without electricity for years as the electricity poles fell into the sinkholes.

Before the 2021 elections, Premier David Makhura visited the people of Khutsong and promised a R50 billion budget to fix them. Nothing has materialised.

The DA has made several attempts through Council, writing to the Mayor to get the municipality to fix the sinkholes, but our pleas fall on deaf ears.

The DA will through our Shadow MEC for Cooperative Government, Mervyn Cirota, request MEC Lebogang Maile to immediately engage with the local municipality to get this sorted.

Delays in establishing Gauteng’s Traffic Command Centre impacts negatively on the safety of residents

Despite spending 20% of the budget by the Department of Community Safety on Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure there has been no movement on establishing the state-of-the-art Traffic Command Centre in Gauteng. This concerns the DA as the centre will play a critical role as an early detection tool for disaster management, traffic management, public unrest and as a tool to monitor hotspots of vandalism of infrastructure.

This information was revealed in the Gauteng Department of Community Safety’s fourth quarterly report for the 2021/2022 financial year.

According to the report, after almost three years, the Department of Public Works has only identified a possible building and is still investigating what infrastructure is needed.

This is deeply concerning given the events of the July unrest and violence last year. This centre is crucial to ensuring the safety of Gauteng residents not only on our roads but also in the communities where they live.

The Western Cape DA government introduced their intergovernmental traffic and safety command centre in 2008. This has helped the Western Cape government to identify and monitor situations that could potentially become volatile.

We urge the department to liaise with their counterparts in Western Cape to learn from them and to establish this Centre as a matter of urgency.