The newly elected shadow mayor of Area East, Anda Ntsodo says it is now time for communities to smile as there would be parity in service delivery following the unveiling of the Organisational Development and Transformation Plan (ODTP) by Mayor Patricia de Lille.
The City said the ODTP aims to improve service delivery across communities and ensure an equitable share of resources, while reversing the legacy of apartheid spatial planning, and improve local government in terms of how they work.
As part of the plan, the City has been divided into four areas, all headed by shadow mayors. Area East includes Kuils River, Blue Downs, Mfuleni, Macassar, Khayelitsha, Eerste River, Somerset West, Strand and Sir Lowry’s Pass.
In a meeting he convened on behalf of the City of Cape Town officials and councillors, at the Ludwe Ngamlana Primary School, in Kuyasa, on Saturday February 4, Mr Ntsodo said he planned to create conditions that were conducive to informal trading and local tourism development, and to improve customer relations and public participation processes.
Mr Ntsodo assured those gathered at the hall that there was no room for corruption.
“Our objective is to now aggressively enhance service delivery and step-up our engagement with residents, especially the poor. The City has spent more than 67 percent of its budget in the poorer areas as confirmed by the National Treasury, who noted that the City was generous in its provision of free basic services,” he said.
Mr Ntsodo said a lot was yet to be done to improve the living conditions of the poor and to address the imbalances of the past.
Supported by City officials, he said the area-based service delivery directorate is responsible for ensuring that services in all 10 departments in the City are operational, functional and measurable. “Area-based service delivery is not just about basic services like water, electricity and sanitation. It includes all services rendered by the City. As shadow-mayor of Area-East, I am accountable for service delivery in all the areas,” he said.
Mr Ntsodo asked communities to work with him.
He urged people to learn to engage more, face to face, and not through the media or on the streets. He said his door would always be open and he was ready to engage communities.
He criticised protests, saying they disrupt the ability of local businesses to make a living.
Mr Ntsodo’s words were echoed by Sub-council 10 manager Clifford Sithonga, who stressed that service delivery should be brought to people.
He said the City used a database to employ people. “We have realised the disadvantage of giving out these position to councillors. We had cries that they normally hire their next of kins, comrades, friends and family members including their children hence the database system.The importance of the database is that it does not know which party ones belong to,” he said, causing grumbling from the audience. Some residents felt that the system can be tampered with. However, Mr Sithonga assured them it had eliminated corruption.
Philiswa Marman-Faba, utilities energy service committee member, told residents to contact her office for issues such as water and sanitation, energy, and human settlements. She said service delivery should be prioritised. She took the opportunity to urge people to use water sparingly.
Ms Marman-Faba said she would engage car washes and those who braai meat along the roads to also save water.
Community member Nomzamo Matanda said there was a glimmer of hope for communities. She said she hoped that this would be true. “We have been given so many promises in the past and nothing happened.
“But I am starting to have hope. May they live up to their promises for once,” she said.
