The Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services Department in the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Jack Sekwaila, has called on residents and partners of the City to curb incidences of infrastructure theft, vandalism and to report illegal dumpers.
MMC Sekwaila was speaking today at the re-launch of the #KleenaJoburg campaign at the Alexandra Stadium in Region E. He was joined by officials from entities such as Pikitup, City Power, Joburg Water, among others.
Today’s re-launch focused on entities that the MMC has political oversight over. However, he told the gathering that other entities of the City will join the initiative to ensure efficient service delivery in all the regions of the city.
“With this campaign we aim to partner with communities to ensure that we keep our neighborhoods clean and healthy. This campaign is about clearing all illegal dumping, fix the street lights, unblocking water drains and sewer blockages.
“We will also ensure by-laws are adhered especially those around illegally dumping, usage of water recklessly, among others,” Cllr Sekwaila said.
He said load-shedding was putting a strain on essential services and the lives of people. A recent study, he said showed that load-shedding was starting to have a psychological impact on the people of South Africa and had a devastating effect on businesses, especially small businesses.
“Remember when power goes off, water pumps and reservoirs are severely affected, as it was the case recently. Waste treatment plants are impacted as well, so are all other essential services across the City and the Province.
“We are working hard to mitigate the negative impact of load-shedding for example we are going to install high mast solar light. In fact, we have already started and the first light will be switched on in early May during the celebration of the Energy Month.
“We are also going to install solar geysers, to ensure that even when power is gone, people have warm water to be able to prepare for work and prepare kids for school,” MMC Sekwaila said.
He said he was aware about the rife problems of illegal connection of electricity, illegal connection of water in Alexandra.
“We need to deal with these issues to address our challenges. We should also address the issue of houses built on top of municipal infrastructure because most of the water, electricity and sewerage infrastructure in Alexandra is buried under houses and shacks built on top of such an essential infrastructure.
“Bahlali, these problems make it difficult to repair and maintain infrastructure under such conditions. It is not only a maintenance and report issue but it poses a danger to residents. This was the case two years or so ago in Stjwetla Alexandra where an electricity pylon fell on shack built under it.
“Our residents should also know that tempering with water meter and sewer network is a crime. #KleenaJoburg campaign will encourage residents to refrain from tempering with sewer municipal infrastructure,” Cllr Sekwaila said in conclusion.
Issued by MMC’s office EISD
19/04/2023
