City employees clean-up campaign
02 June 2015
Personnel of several City of Johannesburg’s municipal-owned entities were all over Weltevreden Park in Region C on 1 June, cutting overgrown grass, fixing potholes, pruning trees, clearing debris from the main storm water drain and replacing burnout streetlights.
The area, which has 14 000 households, is home to more than 21 000 residents. Led by Regional Director Mlamleli Belot and witnessed by Ward Councillor Ingrid Reinten, the Integrated Community Outreach Programme (ICOP) clean-up campaign involved more than 100 workers from the Extended Public Works Programme, officers of the Johannesburg Metro Police Department and employees of City Power, Johannesburg Roads Agency, City Parks & Zoo and Pikitiup.
Similar work has been done in 10 other wards in the region. Some of the employees went from door to door to hand out pamphlets and chat to residents about a range of municipal-related issues. Others were in a tent taking down residents’ complaints.
“Through this programme we engage the community, identify problems and find short-, medium- or long-term solutions,” Belot said.
He said the work crews would remain in the area over the next few days to complete the work.
Reinten explained that her main headache was speeding on a 1km stretch of Snelskaats Street during the school rush hour between 6.15am and 7.45am. Traffic got backed up on Softball Street as motorists jostled to beat the traffic. Reinten said this endangered the lives of children attending local schools and pre-schools.
Belot agreed that speed humps, calming circles and the deployment of JMPD officers would help to control the traffic. He said short- and medium-term solutions would be put in place while permanent interventions were being pursued. Other suggestions included converting some parts of the roads into one-way sections and having solid white lines to stop motorists from straddling lanes or cutting those from the opposite direction.
Local resident Melaine Botha, whose electricity was cut off on Wednesday, was assured that her problem would be urgently attended to.
“My husband is very sick. He has cancer and came out of hospital the day the electricity was cut off. I have made numerous trips to the municipal office but I haven’t been helped,” she said.
She added that it was very frustrating because her account was up to date.
“This whole problem started in March when the meter reader read my neighbour’s meter and billed us instead. My account has a positive balance of more than R1 700 (instead of the neighbour’s arrears of R5 9135.18). We haven’t had electricity for 120 hours and I need this sorted out,” Botha said.
Clr Reinten appealed to Belot to ensure that residents whose bills were disputed not be cut off until the queries had been resolved. She said she was glad Belot and his staff had attended to some of their problems but added that they needed a more streamlined system to respond to queries.
“We need this all the time, not once a year. Residents want to know that things will get fixed. We also need improved information-gathering and greater coordination of service delivery,” she said.