The ongoing construction of new municipal offices in Zamdela, Sasolburg, has been met with widespread adulation from the local residents, who see it as a good move by the municipality to bring services closer to the people.

The department of public works started erecting the new building which has a chamber for council meetings, early this year. The idea to build the municipal offices in Zamdela was first conceived by the late former MEC for health, Fezi Ngubentombi, when she was the mayor of the Metsimaholo Local Municipality.

The current mayor, Brutus Mahlaku, affirmed that his predecessor had a brilliant vision for the municipality, and had done a splendid job while she was mayor.

“The late comrade Fezi had done so much during her tenure as mayor. There are many projects that she initiated with the local oil company Sasol in her quest for this area to become one of the best in the province.

“When she moved to the provincial level, we were awed by her unwavering work ethic and dedication to service delivery. She ensured that she left Metsimaholo with a council chamber to host council meetings,” said Mahlaku.

Mahlaku believes the office is a true reflection of the municipality’s commitment to take services closer to the people.

“We have always put people at the centre of our operations. We are taking the services closer to them because some of the residents cannot afford taxi fares to come to town, something that discourages people from coming here for services.

A member of the mayoral committee (MMC) responsible for technical services, Nomsa Kubheka, said the developments taking place in the area will ensure that the people are proud of their government.

“In the past the former regime used to take services to the minority, and we are ensuring that our people can also be proud of us as their council because we believe that taking services to our people means offices and other structures of government shouldn’t be far from them,” said Kubheka.

The offices will house the department responsible for technical, social services, and housing. The municipality will also have other staff of the departments at its normal headquarters offices; people will also pay their rates and taxes at the new offices.

Many community members believe the new offices will save them money, as they will not have to commute to town anymore just to access services from the municipality.

“We used to spend a lot of money to go to town, sometimes at the risk of not receiving services at all,” said one Thapelo Mofammere.

Meanwhile, vendors will be able to make a decent living by selling their wares to the municipality’s employees working at the new offices.

Government envisages that the construction of a Community Residents Unit (CRU) in Sasolburg will go a long way in addressing the problem of overcrowded flats in Zamdela, says the mayor of Metsimaholo Local Municipality, Brutus Mahlaku. Mahlaku said some residents will be allocated stands while others will wait for government to build them RDP houses.

“It is not everyone who will lay their hands on this form of lodging, given the high demand. However, we do promise that people who want stands will get them after all due processes. The CRU project will be a welcome relief as you might be aware that it is not too far from the new municipal building,” said Mahlaku.

He said the project will be spearheaded by the provincial government and will benefit people who do not qualify for RDP houses and stands.

“These flats will be for people who do not qualify for RDPs and stands. Stands will be allocated at Boschhoek to those who want them. We are aware that many people want to live in their own houses,” said Mahlaku.

It is almost a year since the Metsimaholo Local Municipality Council voted to rezone the area but nothing has been done so far. The Mayor had reported that they had been waiting for the Township Board to finalise rezoning the area. “We are waiting for the Township Board to meet us on this matter so we can start with stands allocation,” said Mahlaku.

The advent of CRUs was announced by housing MEC Olly Mlamleli six weeks ago during an Imbizo with occupants of flats. She disclosed that bachelor flats, two room and other flats will be built to ease the overcrowding in the area, while promoting cleanliness.“We are bringing a new kind of flats to improve the living conditions of those staying in small cottage flats. We are not forcing you to register for these flats, but everybody is entitled to register for what they feel will work for them.

“We are not going to have people opting for the flats and then turning around to complain that they are uncomfortable. We are urging you to choose between the flats, stands and RDP houses. Your choice is final.” The CRU system is working successfully in areas like Bloemfontein and these flats are less costly compared to privately owned apartments. They are managed by local municipalities.

The Metsimaholo Local Municipality has acquired a fleet of trucks and construction vehicles to the tune of R10.5-million in an effort to strengthen service delivery.

The vehicles include three cherry pickers, two rubbish trucks as well as the TLB front and end loader.

Metsimaholo Local Municipality mayor, Brutus Mahlaku, said the municipality had been operating with old vehicles some of which were bought in the 1970s. He said the municipality will procure new vehicles for use in areas such as Refengkgotso.

“This is just the introduction of what will be happening this year. We will be bringing in new vehicles to accelerate service delivery to our residents and to all areas that need us to provide services. You have witnessed that we are indeed serious about service delivery. We bought three cherry pickers; street lights and trees that are growing taller will be well managed with using such vehicles.

“We also bought two rubbish trucks for Deneysville and Oranjeville areas. The TLB front and end loader will help at the cemeteries and at the illegal dumping sides. We are expecting two compact trucks and two sewer trucks to help the two areas which are still using the septic tanks. These outstanding vehicles will arrive in our region within a short space of time and we believe that they will please our communities,” said Mahlaku.

Mahlaku said the municipality has stabilised its finances and is in a good financial position to improve service delivery.

 “Our financial situation is stable and we are not bankrupt like many people say. I must assure all our communities that we are on track. We agreed with all the departments of the municipality that we will upscale service delivery.

“We are strengthening two departments which will be under one umbrella; technical services which includes electrical, roads, mechanical and water. Another department is social services which is responsible for cleansing, cemeteries and parks.”

He said rumours that the municipality was bankrupt were malicious and politically motivated.

“There are people who continue to feed our residents with lies that we don’t have money, but we didn’t have a challenge to spend about R12-million on paying the salaries of our workers. We do not owe our creditors and are doing our best to direct more money towards things that attract investors.

“So I don’t understand why people would say we do not have money and I wish to announce that our provincial government has given us R47-million for infrastructure development.”

Mahlaku said municipality will ensure that it repays the entire loan it got from the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) to buy the trucks.

“We are proud that we can get a loan from DBSA while other institution of government cannot be loaned and with our excellent financial track record we qualified for the loan. Remember we moved from getting a disclaimer from the auditor general and now we received a qualified audit opinion.”