MMM Includes Citizens in Delivery Planning

A 17 members observer team will monitor service delivery implementation

The mayor of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM), Thabo Manyoni, has appointed a 17-member observer team to monitor service delivery and implementation, as well as act as a mouthpiece and eyes of the municipality.

The team, aptly named ‘community champions,’ consists of senior citizens, celebrities, doctors, teachers; business people and human rights activists. Manyoni made this announcement at an induction session in Bloemfontein this week.

The team comprises of Nyakallo Ba2cada Leine, Dr Pule Elias Matjoa, Coaster Kitsa, Boet Troskie, Me. MaBless, Sello Nduna, Father Sam Mokoena, Colin Hickling, Barry Swanepoel, Advocate Mothusi Lepheana and Dr. Bethuel Setai.

This team will be expected to help the municipality ensure effective service delivery and educate people on services offered by the municipality. They will also contribute to bringing investor and general South African confidence in the Mangaung as the city.

“We want people who are committed to this metro and who can help us make this city a place our people will be proud of. We want you to be the mouthpiece and eyes of this community. I also want you to be the face of this city; do not be bureaucrats who make arbitrary decisions. We want you to shout if anything needs to be done,” Manyoni explained.

According to the spokesperson of the municipality, Qondile Khedama, the rationale behind this programme is to include the people of Mangaung in the making of decisions affecting them “This was an introductory meeting to the community champions. We also wanted to expose them into a broad growth and development strategy (GDS) that the city is currently working on. The GDS is a long process that ultimately includes members of society from now to 2040.

“The mayor held an induction session to give them a general framework that will be later implemented. They were selected on the basis of the commitment they have shown to city and its inhabitants, as well as their integrity. They are apolitical, which means they will be serving this city free of political influence,” Khedama told The Weekly.

For her part, the city manager, Sibongile Mazibuko, outlined the vision and plan of the municipality from now until 2040. She also highlighted challenges that needed to be overcome to achieve the city’s objectives.

“Key issues that will contribute to economic growth include acquiring land for investment and addressing housing gaps. The most important thing is to plan the land parcels in an integrated manner.

This means there will be no housing development that does not include things like maintained road and storm water controls.”

“However, in achieving all these in partnership with the community champions, challenges such as infrastructure decay and adequate water supply within the city must be addressed. The city has the capacity to address these challenges and it is already tackling some of them.”

Twenty eight percent of the buildings in the city are in a bad state. Twenty seven percent are said to be in a neutral state with only 45 percent regarded as positive.

“The city has already issued three notices to owners of the dilapidated buildings to refurbish their properties. We have served 19 notices for restoration and 33 conditional notices warning that action will be taken if nothing is done to refurbish the buildings,” explained Mazibuko.

The city will also be engaging with property owners to ensure that the central business district is revived.

The municipality has rural areas that need refurbishment too. There is also a rural development plan in place to repair and rehabilitate irrigation.