Tshwane projects are put on ice

Development has ground to a halt, say worried officials

16 July 2006
 
SIMPIWE PILISO

TSHWANE’S mayoral office has put the brakes on projects in the city — and councillors have been unable to approve R20-million worth of development.

Concerned senior council officials, who spoke to Metro on condition of anonymity this week, said that city portfolio committees had not sat to approve projects since May.

“When portfolio committees don’t sit to discuss tabled projects, then everything comes to a standstill,” said one official.

Development projects — such as new sewerage and drainage systems, road upgrades, low-cost housing, and recreational facilities — are tabled before portfolio committees for approval before they are forwarded to the mayoral committee and then a monthly council meeting for final approval.

But Tshwane spokesman Richard Mkholo denied the city officials’ claims.

“We are surprised by the issues raised,” he said.

Since the local government elections of March 1, the council had been busy formally electing the executive mayor, Gwen Ramokgopa, constituting the new mayoral committee, launching the city’s 100 days’ programme — which covers issues such as sorting out the council billing system — and approving the municipal budget, he said.

“These concerns raised are totally unjustified,” Mkholo added.

Since the inception of the new council, Mkholo said, the mayoral committee had sat 11 times and passed about 200 items.

But the city officials said agenda items, which included development projects, had not been forwarded to the council for approval and were gathering dust in Ramokgopa’s office.

Some of the affected projects in Tshwane include:

•The rebuilding of the Munitoria building, the municipality’s official headquarters;

•Construction work on the Super Stadium in Atteridgeville;

•A multimillion-rand shopping complex, youth centre and trader stall development in Klip-Kruisfontein near Soshanguve; and

•The installation of electricity in Lotus Gardens Extension 2.

Mkholo said the rebuilding of Munitoria would be discussed at a special council meeting next week.

One city official said the above-mentioned projects were “only a fraction” of the items “gathering dust somewhere in the mayoral office”.

“There is a lot of confusion in the council and no one knows what’s going on ... it’s chaos.”

One official said the situation was frustrating, as Joburg and Ekurhuleni councils were forging ahead with projects while Tshwane lagged behind.

Opposition party leaders have questioned why Ramokgopa appears to be delaying development in Tshwane.

Pretoria Democratic Alliance leader Fred Nel said: “Crucial portfolio committees, such as housing and city development, have not sat in two months... and as many as 70 items are sitting with the mayoral committee and have not been passed on to council for approval.”

Nel agreed with the city officials that at least R20-million worth of projects were waiting for approval.

“But there’s nothing we can do, since the mayor has all the powers to decide what happens,” he said.

In April, Metro reported that Ramokgopa was set to become one of the country’s most powerful mayors following a radical proposal that would give her 44 additional powers.

The powers would enable her to expropriate land, approve any excess expenditure on the approved budget, and make investments on behalf of the city.

Nel said that at a recent monthly council meeting, only six items instead of the usual 80 to 100 items were discussed. He also said portfolio meetings were not being held — and no one knows why.

“The approval of these reports and projects is very important for service delivery ... there are various development projects for places such as Mamelodi and Soshanguve,” he said.

Many of the projects awaiting approval would have been included in the city’s previous budget, which expired on June 30.

“Now these projects will have to be included in the city’s new R8.5-billion municipal budget which kicked in on July 1,” Nel said.