Power failure fails to stop Braamfischerville IDP meeting

11 April 2017

 

City of Johannesburg officials had to be assisted by the use of cellphone light to complete a 2017-2018 Integrated Development Plan (IDP) presentation after the Braamfischerville Multipurpose Centre was plunged into darkness following a power failure shortly after the start of a public consultation meeting last night (Monday April 10).

 

The wet weather conditions also did not dampen the spirits of scores of local residents who wanted to be part of the meeting, one of several being rolled out across the City’s seven regions this month to give communities a platform to make an input on the development of their respective areas.

The meeting was addressed by, among others, Region C oversight Member of the Mayoral Committee Cllr Nico de Jager and Regional Director Mlamleli Belot. The meeting was dominated by service delivery issues such as the lack of a fully fledged police station, uncut grass, state of roads and environmental health.

A Ward 49 resident who identified himself as Bongani appealed to City officials to focus on “community imperatives” when drawing up the Budget. “We need a fully fledged police station. This issue will not go away. I also want to make an appeal that when the Budget is allocated, community imperatives such clinics be on top of the list of priorities,” he said.

Braamfischerville is currently served by a satellite police station.

Nkululeko Ngubane, also of Ward 49, was concerned about long grass in his ward. “We’ve been reporting the issue with no much success. I’ve personally escalated the matter to City officials but nothing has been done. This is demoralising us as a community. Grass that is not cut draws in criminal elements to our areas,” said Ngubane.

Ntombi Mathibedi, of Ward 44, said the tarring of streets in her area had left huge portions uncompleted.

“The grass is long and residents are now illegally dumping their rubbish there. The grass has to be cut,” she said.

Braamfischerville is situated near mine dumps. Residents said this had health implications. They said underground water seeped through their properties now and then and appealed to the City to act on the health threat.

In response, Cllr Nico de Jager, who is also MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, committed the City to attending to the issues raised.

“The demand is big and resources are relatively small. We need to understand that process. The promises we make is not stuff we cannot do. When you talk about grass cutting and sewage running in the streets, we will fix that. It is stuff we can do. We will take these issues up. I promise we will act on them as a matter of urgency,” said the MMC.