Installing electricity in Xolani informal settlement may be rolled out during the current financial year if the mayoral committee overrules the decision to put the project on hold.
Installing electricity in Xolani informal settlement may be rolled out during the current financial year if the mayoral committee overrules the decision to put the project on hold.
This was announced by Zamuxolo Peter, the Makana council’s infrastructure development committee’s head councillor, at a meeting with Xolani residents yesterday. "The item will be taken to the mayoral committee for a resolution, we will then come back to you to say when will the work actually begin," he said.
Peter instructed the municipal officials who were at the meeting to start planning for the project so that work can start immediately after the mayoral committee has resolved on the issue. "The development will take place, there’s no turning back now," he maintained.
He accused members of the committee of discussing the issue with "their hearts" and only considering a few issues pertaining to the proposed development. "There are things they didn’t consider," he warned.
These aspects include the projet being "close to mayor Vumile Lwana’s heart" and that the council will never have enough money to install electricity in all the needy areas in the municipal area at once. He also said the committee’s members questioned the preferential treatment given to the area when they are also facing similar problems in their wards.
The residents asked Peter how long they will they have to wait before their area gets electricity and repeated their pleas to be afforded an opportunity to buy the necessary infrastructure themselves. "How about us buying the electric poles ourselves as we proposed to the meeting during our last meeting?" asked Hombakazi Damane.
The municipality intends to adjust the budget to accomodate the funds needed for the completion of the project. An investigation by the Makana technical services directorate revealed that an amount of almost R200 000 would be required to deliver the project. The money will be used to pay Eskom to lay down cables and install the electricity. According to the municipality, it is going to cost Eskom an estimated total of R6 000 to electrify each of the area’s 33 sites. This means that the council has to source R198 000 to afford electricity for the area.
Makana technical services director Dabula Njilo reported to the infrastructure development portfolio committee meeting on Tuesday that the township establishment application for the area was submitted to the department of local government and traditional affairs in February.
"We have been experiencing some delays in the finalisation of this by the department," explained Njilo. "The executive mayor had intervened in this process so as to expedite the approval process."
He added that due to Lwana’s intervention the department has now indicated that the application is "on the verge of approval". Lwana intervened after he consulted with the residents in August at an emotional meeting where he sympathised with their plight.
The municipality’s electricity department have budgeted R700 000 in the capital budget for the purchase of transformers. The required R200 000 will be sought from this amount.
