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ANC MUST EXPLAIN WHY ONLY 59 OUT OF 150 INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS HAVE BEEN FORMALISED

In 2013, outgoing Mayor Ramokgopa promised in his State of the City Address that “The total eradication of informal settlements remains an important goal of our work during the current term of office. Our citizens deserve places of residence that are fully serviced with title deeds.”

And just yesterday, Thoko Didiza, the ANC’s lame duck mayoral candidate, reiterated this promise saying that replacing informal settlements is a priority for the party.

But truth is that since 2013, the number of informal settlements has only grown under the ANC. The ANC must explain their broken promises to formalise informal settlements.

According to City of Tshwane’s 2014-2105 Annual Report, only 59 of the 150 informal settlements identified in 2013 by the City’s “flagship” housing programme, Re Aga Tshwane, have been formalised. This is a mere 39% of the set target.

Since 2013, the number of informal settlements in Tshwane has in fact increased to 178. Among these informal settlements is Plastic view which recently burnt, killing five people and displacing roughly 1 500 residents.

Many informal settlements in Tshwane are without access to basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation.

According to the General Household Survey, Tshwane has the lowest percentage of households with access to a basic sanitation facility at 82% in comparison to 91.4% in Cape Town.

In 2015, Sputla yet again said the City would “accelerate the formalisation process through the Re Aga Tshwane programme”. But just like the rest of his promises, this pledge too lies broken and shattered.

Sputla was correct in saying that the people of the Capital deserve houses with title deeds. But the ANC government in Tshwane has failed to deliver.

Handing over title deeds is about more than giving people ownership of their homes; it is about expanding access to opportunity.

Title deeds allow people to be owners of their property, to have access to equity, to be part of this society and to prosper. Title deeds give people access to opportunity and to ability to improve their lives and the lives of their families.

Earlier this week the DA revealed that corruption and financial mismanagement in the Capital has cost its residents the equivalent of 32,153 RDP houses, while the housing backlog in Tshwane stood at over 120,000 according to the 2014/15 Gauteng Department of Human Settlement’s Annual Performance Plan.

For too long the people of the Capital have been let down by broken ANC promises.

The DA have committed to working hard to ensure that the delivery of title deeds in municipalities we govern is sped up so that more South Africans can own the properties where they live.

Where the DA governs, we are committed to ensuring the fair allocation of housing opportunities, and vitally, coupled with the issuance of title deeds.

In the past three years, the DA-run City of Cape Town has given 15 000 title deeds to make the poor the real owners of their own homes. This is more than any other metro in the country.

This is the change that only the DA can deliver, handing over title deeds as well as greater transparency and accountability in the awarding of RDP. This has been proved in the municipalities we govern.

This is the DA difference; this is the change the DA wants to bring to Tshwane in order to see it move forward again.

Together, on 3 August, we can bring change to Tshwane.

 

Media enquiries:

Motheo Mtimkulu

Media Manager: Tshwane Mayoral Campaign

083 728 0554

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Tshwane deserves better than Sputla’s ANC infighting

The accusation of factionalism against Mayor Ramokgopa today by SACP regional secretary, Apson Makaung, confirms what the residents of Tshwane already know: ANC candidates would rather distract themselves with infighting and jockeying for positions, than focussing on governing.

Under Sputla, key indicators in Tshwane point to a City in decline:

  • Unemployment is up from 24.2% in the 2011 Census, to 26% in the latest quarterly labour force survey. In total 517,000 people in Tshwane do not have jobs or have given up looking.
  • For the past five years, Tshwane has not received a clean audit. Last year R1 886 200 000 was lost to financial misconduct according to Auditor General through unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
  • According to the Non-financial Census of Municipalities, Tshwane has more people than any other metro that have to go more than 200m to reach a water point with 113,212 consumer units receiving water provision at a distance – for the DA-run Cape Town, that number is zero.
  • According to the General Household Survey, Tshwane has the lowest percentage of households with access to a basic sanitation facility at 82% in comparison to 91.4% in Cape Town.

It is no coincidence that the City described by SACP provincial secretary, Jacob Mamabolo, as the “one city where we see the most vicious alliance fights in the province, even within the ANC,” is also the worst performer in terms of various service delivery indicators.

Clearly it is the people of Tshwane who are suffering while Sputla and his colleagues fight it out for control of the City’s resources.

Sputla, a known Zuma ally, failed to make the top spot on the ANC’s list. Despite this, no announcement of his successor as mayoral candidate has been made. This has raised serious questions about his position, and particularly whether his relationship with Accused #1 is what is standing in the way of his deposition.

Today, DA National Spokesperson, Phumzile Van Damme MP, publically called on the ANC to announce its Mayoral Candidates, which it has lied to South Africa about announcing since December 2015.

Until the ANC has resolved their internal battles, voters in Tshwane will be denied the opportunity to interrogate their choices for mayor. This is contrary to the spirit of democracy and another example of how the ANC puts itself ahead of those it is meant to serve.

Voters must know who they are voting for. That is why the DA has run the most democratic, transparent and open candidate selection process of any party and made our lists public. We challenge the ANC to do the same.

Solly Msimanga

DA Mayoral Candidate for Tshwane

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Sputla, Hands Off Historical Caledonian Stadium

Arcadia Shepherds – Caledonian Stadium

The DA condemns the decision by Mayor of Tshwane, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, to proceed with plans to evict the Arcadia Shepherds from Caledonian Stadium and demolish their home of 113 years. Not only will this leave the Shepherds without a home, but deprive hundreds of children from under-resourced schools from sporting facilities to develop their skills. This is a crime against the children of Tshwane.

Rebuttals by the Mayoral Spokesperson regarding the proposed vanity project of Mayor Ramokgopa on the Caledonian site are disingenuous and once again exhibit the Tshwane administration’s sheer disregard for the concerns of its residents.

The Caledonian site development, and the process surrounding it, has been marred by secrecy and a lack of disclosure, showing that the ANC government does not believe in honest and open government.

Provincial Heritage Resources Authority – Gauteng (PHRA-G)

The DA has confirmed with the Provincial Heritage Resources Authority – Gauteng (PHRA-G) that approval for the Mayor’s project has not been granted. The record of decision issued by the PHRA-G states that the application by the City for the new development has not been approved and that the City must restart its application. The Mayoral Spokesperson however defiantly proclaims that the project will continue.

While the City claims to have consulted with all stakeholders, the tenants of the stadium informed me at a meeting earlier this week that their concerns have not been taken seriously. Further to this, children from poor schools without sporting facilities who make use of the stadium for soccer practice and coaching, as well as the local Women’s Soccer Association, are on the record against the proposed development and the loss of the use of the stadium.

DA’s Manifesto for Change

The DA will not sit idly by and see the most vulnerable residents in our City being traded off so that a select few can enrich themselves in another potentially corrupt Tshwane deal, like so many before it.

The DA’s Manifesto for Change details our plan to replace the ANC with an honest government that will stop corruption, deliver better services, and most importantly, create jobs. A government that will not make empty promises but deliver results.

Change is desperately needed in Tshwane, and the DA is set on bringing change to Tshwane after this year’s elections to stop corruption, restore service delivery and create jobs.

 

Media enquiries:

Motheo Mtimkulu

Media Manager: Tshwane Mayoral Campaign

083 728 0554

[Image source]

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Tshwane Mayor delays State of Metro Address with no good stories to tell

It comes as no surprise that Tshwane Executive Mayor, , has delayed his State of the Metro Address. Mayor Ramokgopa is hiding from accountability, and is avoiding answering to the people of Tshwane.

This further adds to the growing list of ANC broken promises in Tshwane.

Clearly Mayor Ramokgopa has run out of good stories to tell to Tshwane, as he finds himself at the centre of multiple scandals and failures of governance.

Most recently, National Treasury rejected Tshwane’s adjustment budget and returned it to the City to redo.

With an unacceptably high unemployment rate of 32.6%, as well as drastically declining levels of service delivery, the people of Tshwane deserve accountability and responsiveness from Mayor Ramokgopa; instead the people of Tshwane are left counting his broken and empty promises.

The ANC administration led by Mayor Ramokgopa has neglected to fulfil its promises, amongst which is the failure to put an end to the City’s expenditure of PEU – which has been deemed irregular, it has failed to  provide clean drinkable water to the people of Hammanskraal, it has failed to provide cogent answers as to the Adjustments Budget which was returned to Council, it has failed wage a war on water leaks and rectify the more than 40,000 poorly built RDP houses.

The people deserve answers for the ANC’s failure to deliver, and now Rampkgopa is hiding from scrutiny. The ANC administration in Tshwane is failing the City’s residents by being unable to fully fund the bare necessities of service delivery, as corruption is the order of the day.

The DA believes that a new and inspiring vision for Tshwane is needed in order to kick start economic growth and get the City out of its current state of stagnation.

With this clear vision in place, residents will live in an inclusive city where they feel safe. Our people will live in a Metro that is forward thinking in its planning, and that cares about its residents and about their well-being.

Tshwane can and will become a municipality of rising opportunity under a DA administration.

The DA is determined to win Tshwane at this year’s municipal election to usher in a government that delivers better services, cuts corruption and creates jobs.

Together, with Tshwane residents the DA will stop the cancer of corruption, grow the economy and create jobs.

Change is coming to Tshwane, with a new DA government, after Election 2016.

 

Solly Msimanga

Tshwane Mayoral Candidate

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