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Evaton North Library remains closed despite its fan-fare opening

by Kingsol Chabalala MPL – DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Sports, Recreation, Arts & Culture

Despite the Evaton North Library officially opening in September 2017 by the Gauteng Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture (SRAC), the library is closed to the public.

During an oversight visit to the library, it was visible that the Emfuleni Local Municipality had failed to take ownership of this library as they are mandated to do. The facility is starting to become overgrown with weeds and grass.

It was also revealed that employees of the municipality have been removing furniture from the Library.

The Emfuleni Municipality was given funding by the Gauteng Department of SRAC in the fourth quarter of the 2017/18 financial year to ensure that this library is fully functional and accessible, yet it appears that there is a lack of political will from the ANC-led municipality to fulfil this mandate.

Residents of Evaton North have to travel a far distance to make use of library services which would not be the case if this newly built facility was operational.

The ANC deployed former member of the Gauteng Legislature, Jacob Khawe to turn around the dire state of affairs in Emfuleni that ensued from the tenure of former Mayor, Simon Mofokeng.

It has become apparent that under the ANC in Emfuleni, service delivery and implementation of projects remain a problematic issue.

The DA will question the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Paul Mashatile to ascertain why Emfuleni has not opened this library and where the funds allocated to this project have gone.

Libraries play a vital role in ensuring residents have access to reading and learning material, as well as the internet.

Emfuleni’s neighbour, Midvaal, which is DA-run has extended library hours and ensures the complete functionality of all its libraries, including up to date books and access to WiFi.

This is the total change that a DA administration would bring to the residents of Emfuleni, change that improves the lives of our people through greater access to information and internet connectivity.

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Gauteng COGTA and Human Settlements in limbo

Gauteng Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements MEC, Paul Mashatile appears to be preoccupied with his new position within the ANC NEC as the Treasurer-General, neglecting his responsibilities as the political leader of this department. This comes although Gauteng faces enormous housing challenges, a crisis in local municipal governance, maladministration and poor financial management.

The MEC, as the incumbent ANC Gauteng chairperson, has left Gauteng Premier, David Makhura as the acting chairperson while this department flounders without anyone to act in his absence. This indicates that the Gauteng ANC-led administration cares little about providing adequate quality housing and service delivery to our people.

This province has a housing backlog of about 800 000 and 101 unfinished projects such as Ga-rankuwa Extension 10 housing project in Tshwane, River Park flats and Alexandra Extension 21 housing projects and Sethokga housing project in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni.

Housing allocation is also rife with corruption, as the rightful beneficiaries of these houses are left out in the cold. Our people who are desperate to own decent houses have been on the waiting list since 1996 and are now expressing their frustrations through embarking on protests throughout the province. Furthermore, Merafong Local Municipality and Emfuleni Local Municipality are also facing severe service delivery challenges due to poor financial management.

There are many housing projects that were launched last year, such as the Mega City housing projects, that require political will to ensure that they are completed within the specified time frame.

While MEC Mashatile is preparing for his new position, the DA calls upon the Premier Makhura to appoint an acting MEC to lead and oversee the functions of this department.

We cannot allow that our people suffer due to MEC Mashatile prioritising his Party responsibilities over serving the needs of the people.

Only the DA can build a better province and houses for those in need. Mashatile, Makhura and others cannot be trusted to do so. Gauteng deserves a new beginning and a new government led by the DA.

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MECs Creecy and Mashatile must be held accountable for Emfuleni water crisis

Gauteng MEC for Finance, Barbara Creecy and MEC for Local Government, Paul Mashatile must accept responsibility for the perilous situation faced by thousands of Emfuleni residents who have had no access to water due to the financial mismanagement of the Emfuleni Local Municipality.

Last year the DA advised both MECs that Emfuleni should been placed under administration as it owed millions of Rands to both Eskom and Rand Water, placing residents and businesses in a precarious situation.

Had the ANC in Gauteng acted swiftly on the DA’s recommendations, these measures could have been avoided.

Both Creecy and Mashatile were too concerned with scoring places in the ANC’s elective congress in December 2017 to pay attention to the powder keg in the Vaal region which was waiting to explode.

Despite the fact that the Premier, David Makhura visited this municipality last week to assess the situation, it did little to change the water crisis in Emfuleni.

Water supply is a basic human right guaranteed by the constitution.

It is unacceptable for residents to be without water for days, particularly during this heat wave.

The Emfuleni Municipality must be dissolved and placed under administration as soon as possible to uphold government’s constitutional mandate of service delivery to all residents.

Failure to do so will not only perpetuate the financial mismanagement that has taken root, but residents will be exposed to health hazards such as diarrhoea, infection and dehydration.

The DA has requested a meeting with the Emfuleni Local Municipality Municipal Manager and the Mayor to get clarity on when the payment for the outstanding balance to Rand Water will be made to avoid the recurrence of such a situation.

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Gauteng municipalities owed R622 million by ANC Provincial Government

The Gauteng Provincial Government is hampering service delivery in the province’s municipalities as it currently owes a collective amount of R622 105 203.30 to local governments.

The amounts owed are as follows:

Home to the most affected residents, DA-led metropolitan municipalities make up the lion’s share of this debt.

Embattled local municipalities that are hardest hit by the provincial government’s failure to pay back money it owes.

ANC-run Emfuleni, Merafong City and Rand West City owe millions of rands to both Eskom and Rand Water. Emfuleni is already experiencing a decrease in water pressure as Rand Water has restricted flow due to the large debt the municipality is battling to service.

Gauteng MEC for Finance, Barbra Creecy, along with Cooperative Governance MEC, Paul Mashatile, have done very little in turning around the fortunes of these local municipalities and assisting them with servicing the debts they owe.

These local municipalities should have been placed under Section 139 administration to ensure that residents do not continue to suffer under ANC mismanagement.

Both MEC Creecy and Mashatile refuse to take this step because of the embarrassment it will cause to the ANC in the province, as it tries to give off the impression that it has a good story to tell.

If MECs Creecy and Mashatile cared as much for the residents of these municipalities as they did for the image of the ANC, then they would take decisive action and ensures that monies owed were paid timeously to ensure service delivery does not grind to a halt and that basic constitutional rights of residents are not threatened.

The DA will write to MEC Creecy to ensure that these monies are paid as soon as possible because the effects of non-payment will be detrimental to the wellbeing of residents.

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MEC Mashatile is protecting corruption in Emfuleni

It is now clear that either the Gauteng Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) MEC, Paul Mashatile is not in a position to provide or disclose any documents with regards to the projects in Emfuleni Local Municipality or he is protecting the local ANC leadership.

The DA submitted written questions to COGTA in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in August 2017 with regards to the following projects in Emfuleni Local Municipality: Mississippi (Evaton West Extension 5) Moedi Recreation Facility, Boipatong ECDC, Evaton Cemetry and Zone 10 Trapeziodal Concrete Channel. We received the replies on 21 August 2017 with an illegible annexure attached to the answer sheet.

We have on several occasions requested legible annexures from the department and even opted for hand delivery; to date we are still waiting for a response.

We have no other option but to conclude that this illegible annexure was attached intentionally to deprive us from viewing the details of the contractors and the monies paid for the work done on each project.

According to the MEC, the municipality has terminated the services of the contractors and the reasons for termination are not highlighted; all answers refer to this unclear annexure.

This is the second time that the MEC is refusing to provide us with the documents with regards to Emfuleni projects. In February 2017, we submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to obtain the Evaton Renewal Project documents and to date this has not been answered.

It seems that the MEC has something to hide; he is protecting the corrupt ANC–led Emfuleni administration at the expense of our people.

Emfuleni Local Municipality residents continue to suffer due to lack of service delivery as there is nothing to show for the work that has been done on all these projects.

The DA will continue to pressure the MEC to disclose the details about these projects. This is the tax payer’s money, the public has the right to know how their money is being spent.

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Mashatile leaves Ga-Rankuwa residents in the lurch

It is clear that the Gauteng Human Settlements MEC, Paul Mashatile has completely abandoned the incomplete housing project in Ga-Rankuwa Unit 10 in the City of Tshwane, as nothing has been done for the past 5 years.

During our visit to this incomplete housing project with the DA Constituency Head for Ga-Rankuwa-Soshanguve, Janho Engelbrecht MPL and the DA Ward 32 Tshwane PR Councilor, Alfred Makhafula, we were distressed at the state of these incomplete houses.

See the photos of these incomplete housing project, here, here, here and here.

Poor planning, poor project management and misappropriation of funds from the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements has resulted in these houses being left incomplete and vulnerable to vandalism.

These houses have been vandalized, the walls have been partially demolished and the bricks have been stolen as well as the window frames and door frames.

The local residents who are desperate to own houses have on several occasions unsuccessfully attempted to invade these houses. Some of these incomplete houses have been marked with names and contact details written on the walls.

These incomplete houses are without roofs, some consist of concrete slabs only and there is no bulk infrastructure such as water, electricity and sewer pipes.

This incomplete subsidized housing project which started in June 2011 was meant to build 1000 units of three storey walk-ups flats, 250 units of free-standing houses and 750 units of semi-detached houses.

The construction of these houses was stopped in 2013. The residents who have been on the waiting list to occupy these houses demand answers on when the project is going to be completed as the department remains mum on the issue.

We will table the following questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to ascertain the following:

  • How much was the initial budget for this project?
  • How much has been spent so far?
  • How much is needed to complete this project?
  • What was/is the time frame of this housing project?
  • When and why was the project stopped?
  • Who is the contractor?
  • When is the project going to resume and when is it going to be completed?

This is one of many unfinished housing projects that have been abandoned by the uncaring ANC government. This is a waste of tax payer’s money and we can no longer tolerate such abuse.

We will hold MEC Mashatile to account to ensure that this project is completed for the benefit of our people.

The DA believes that if all the unfinished housing projects across the province are completed it will ease the housing backlog of approximately 800 000 with which we are currently faced.

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Gauteng ANC no different from ANC of Zuma. DA is ready to lead

Belgian economist and writer, Ernest Mandel, states that “factions are a sign of illness in a party.” This “illness” sets in when members of a political organisation no longer subscribe to the vision and values of the organisation but set out to elevate the nefarious vision and values of individuals above that of the organisation. This “illness” also manifests itself when parts or factions of the organisation stand quietly by and do nothing in an attempt to distinguish themselves from the whole. This is the case when it comes to the ANC at Luthuli House and the ANC in Gauteng.

 

There is a false belief that the ANC in Gauteng is independent of the ANC at Luthuli House. The false narrative states that the ANC of Paul Mashatile and David Makhura is a corrupt-free moral compass, and the last hope of the ANC.

 

If we are to believe that the ANC in Gauteng is a shining star in the dark sky that is the ANC, then they would not have lost significantly in the 2014 and 2016 polls, and they would not be preparing to lose the entire province to the DA in 2019. The people of Gauteng are increasingly voting for the DA and other opposition parties in Gauteng because they know that any form of ANC government is regressive, corrupt and arrogant.

 

If the ANC of Gauteng was so great and espoused the values of Oliver Tambo, John Dube, Nelson Mandela and its other great leaders of an ANC that is no more, the new DA-led administrations of Johannesburg and Tshwane would not be uncovering cases of corruption, which took place under the ANC in Gauteng’s watch.

 

For example, under the leadership of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba, 2 000 corruption cases are being investigated, amounting to R14.4 billion. This has thus far led to 451 arrests and more than 100 City employees being suspended.

 

In Tshwane, R12 million was spent on the mayoral mansion, despite the property being valued at R4 million. The previous ANC Mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, inflated his office compliment by hiring 900 people (many of whom were ANC branch chairs and had no clear job description), costing the people of Tshwane R250 million a year in salaries.

 

While money was looted in Johannesburg and Tshwane the righteous ANC leadership in Gauteng said and did nothing. So how can it be that this corrupt cohort is seen to be exemplary when compared to the alleged liars and looters in Luthuli House – Jacob Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa, Zweli Mkhize, Baleka Mbete, Zweli Mkhize, Jessie Durate and long list of other people who have defended and acted against the interests of South Africa and her people?

 

What is real, is the Democratic Alliance’s growth in Gauteng, and this is anchored on our first win in the province in 2011, when we were entrusted with governing in Midvaal. Mayor Bongani Baloyi has done an excellent job there. Unemployment is at its lowest; investment and service delivery are at their highest. Midvaal has done so well, that in the lead up to the 2016 election, the ANC commended our great work and went as far as saying that it should be emulated by the ANC.

 

The Auditor-General also had a few words to say about the DA’s brand of good governance in Midvaal, the only municipality in Gauteng to get a clean audit for 2015/16, stating that this is because of “the municipality institutionalising a number of best practices, which should be replicated across the province, such as monitoring the implementation of action plans to ensure that internal control deficiencies are addressed, maintaining stability in key positions, ensuring that governance structures are effective, and effectively applying consequence management”.

 

As the DA in Gauteng, we are ready to build a better province, where jobs are created, services are delivered and corruption becomes something of the past. We want Gauteng to be a place where hospitals and clinics treat patients with dignity; where women and children are kept safe from crime.

 

The DA is ready to rebuild what the ANC of Jacob Zuma and David Makhura have destroyed.

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MEC Mashatile out of touch with reality

Comments by Gauteng Human Settlements and Cooperative Governance MEC, Paul Mashatile, that not all service delivery protests in Gauteng are real and that some are caused by individuals seeking attention, shows how out of tune the MEC is with the plight of residents desperate to receive services.

Earlier this year, violent service delivery protests flared up across Gauteng because residents were fed up with the empty promises that have repeatedly been made to them by the ANC. True to form, MEC Mashatile made promises that, as yet, have not been kept.

Does MEC Mashatile believe that people who have no homes, who have no access to clean water or piped ablution facilities protest because they do not have legitimate concerns?

Is the MEC a service delivery protest denialist?

As the ANC Gauteng Provincial Chairman, it is he who sets the tone for how his party will govern in Gauteng. Based on these assertions, it is likely that under the ANC in Gauteng – the voices of the most vulnerable will continue to fall on deaf ears.

Thousands of people took to the ballot box in August 2016 to express their dissatisfaction with ANC governments across Gauteng. Tshwane, Johannesburg and Midvaal are in the stable hands of the DA and come 2019. The people of Gauteng can expect a brighter future under a DA-led Gauteng Government that will leave no-one behind.

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Mashatile trying to prolong ANC stranglehold on Mogale City

The ANC has been pushed into an untenable situation of its own making in Mogale City, and despite this dysfunction the ANC and MEC Paul Mashatile refuse to take deliberate steps to ensure that the residents of the municipality are subject to good governance and quality service delivery.

The only solution to the deadlock in Mogale City is to dissolve the council and allow the will of the people to be registered through a by-election, thus allowing the process to begin in earnest of moving Mogale City in the right direction.

The DA-led coalition had done well in the few months that it led the council. We had put forward a proposed budget that, in the right hands, would ensure that the people come first, municipal finances would be stabilised, creditors and suppliers would be paid on time and quality services would be delivered. The ANC could not accept this, hence their campaign to frustrate our work and halt the delivery of services, and ultimately get their hands on the people’s money.

Mashatile’s proposal for the “the Provincial Treasury and Mogale City to develop an interim budget for three months”, is nothing more than a ploy to buy the ANC more time to devise another nefarious plan to get its hands on the people’s money. The DA will not allow this to happen.

The DA will continue to work to ensure that the people of Mogale City come first, but that will never happen with the ANC at the helm.

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MEC Mashatile delays Munsieville Ext 5 multimillion housing project

Due to poor planning by the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements, the Munsieville Extension 5 housing development project in Mogale City will only be completed by the end of March 2019.

This has been revealed by the Gauteng Human Settlements MEC, Paul Mashatile, in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

MEC Paul Mashatile is playing political games with the lives of residents who are desperate to own houses by shifting the completion date of this project closer to 2019 elections.

This  R29m project was initiated in the 2009/2010 financial year. The installation of internal services was completed for 465 stands but the project was stopped due to insufficient sewer lines.

Furthermore, on 22 February 2016 the department reported that they had handed over the project to the contractor to begin the building of 500 top structures as part of the 2016/2017 financial year. The project was planned for completion on 31 March 2017.

According to MEC Mashatile there have been delays on the project due to the NHBRC requirement to have roads and storm water management designs approved.

The department constructed 212 foundation slabs without the approval of the municipality; this indicates a lack of planning and incompetence from the department.

The DA believes that fast-tracking the construction of housing projects will assist in addressing the 600 000 housing backlog in the province.

The DA will hold MEC Mashatile accountable for failing to deliver houses in Munsieville Extension 5 according to the deadline. We will continue monitoring the progress on the project and fight for fairness in the allocation of these houses.