Note to editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Dirk Kotze.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality met with the leaders of neighbourhood associations and civil rights groups to petition the municipality to fund all wards in the metro with R51 million.
The assistance project will see every ward receive funding of R1 million, divided over a 3-year term. The funds should be ring-fenced and be used to uplift communities, improve public safety and attend to basic services in a ward that the municipality will not deliver.
Ward councillors and ward committees will work together with neighbourhood associations and civil rights organisations to attend to the needs of residents in a specific ward. Strict procurement and supply chain management processes will be followed for the funds to be used.
In 2014, the then-serving Speaker, Mxolisi Siyonzana met with all ward councillors to fund wards with R 200 000 to uplift communities. This meeting was not an official meeting and found its way to a dead-end street. The DA raised several questions during the term on why the project was not initiated. Allegations surfaced that the R10 million budget was spent on the ANC campaign for the 2016 Local Government Elections.
The municipality failed to deliver basic services to residents due to grants not being spent as intended, maladministration in departments, cadre deployment and tenderpreneurs.
The DA intend for the petition to serve at the next Ordinary council meeting through a motion to be approved by the council. We urge the municipality to include the R51 million in the budget for the financial year 2023/2024 If the council resolves that the funds be made available.
The DA hopes that this venture will encourage residents to become more involved with ward councillors and committees in their communities and establish neighbourhood associations or support our local civil rights organisations. We encourage all residents of the Mangaung Metro to sign the petition in support of this motion for the improvement of communities and to restore Mangaung to its former glory as the City of Roses.