​The City has urged residents of Soweto to pay consistently for municipal services to help improve the delivery of turnkey projects in their community.

“Please make sure you play your part and pay your rates and taxes so that the City can have enough revenue to roll out capital projects in your community,” urged Salome Ngobeza, the Regional Director in Region D.

The City is currently consulting and giving feedback to communities across all regions through Community Based Planning (CBP) meetings, which are consultative engagements between residents and the municipality ahead of the Integrated Development Process (IDP).

CBPs are designed to give residents a platform to tell the City what kind of development they envisage and raise service delivery shortfalls that need attention.

It was Phefeni’s turn on Friday, 25 February 2022 to voice out concerns and outline expectations to City officials and politicians.

Residents raised several service delivery issues they have been battling with, including an inadequate stormwater drainage system, potholes, the lack of safety around parks and open spaces, youth unemployment, and illegal dumping, amongst a lengthy list of concerns.

Ngobeze conceded that the region faced many challenges, particularly given the fact that Soweto is one of the country’s most populous urban residential areas.

“We accept that residents are raising a lot of service delivery issues. Soweto’s profile indicates that about 26% of Johannesburg’s population is from here,” said Ngobeza

Paul Miya from Meadowlands wanted to find out when the City is going to allocate residents’ social housing flats in Fleurhof.

Another Meadowlands resident, Lucas Mthembu, had this to say: “We work well with our ward councillor. We are requesting the development of sporting grounds in Meadowlands Zone 2 so that our children don’t get involved in drugs.”

Ngobeza reiterated the call for residents to desist from stopping contractors from rolling out development projects in their area, as this was hampering service delivery.

“The City has lost a lot of money because of projects that are being stopped by communities. Sometimes the City implements a project with external investors, and when these are stopped, investors pull out and leave to invest in neighbouring municipalities,” she said.

Earlier in the week on Tuesday, 22 February 2022, residents of Dhlamini and neighbouring Soweto suburbs also added their inputs during a CBP meeting. Many of them were hopeful the City will build multipurpose halls, libraries, clinics, bridges and eco-parks.

Nelly Ndlovu complained about the illegal occupation of social housing units in Kliptown and the persistent running sewerage in the streets.

“There’s also ongoing sewerage spillage in Pimville if that can be fixed,” said Ndlovu.

Responding to residents’ complaints, Ngobeza said the City was currently implementing several capital projects in Soweto, including the construction of the Molapo Bridge, the extension of stormwater pipes in Umvoti Street and stormwater upgrades.

Written by Nkosana Lekotjolo
25/02/2022