Poor communications and red tape between Makana Municipality departments are holding up the construction of fire departments in rural areas.
Poor communications and red tape between Makana Municipality departments are holding up the construction of fire departments in rural areas.
The problem of rezoning land that belongs to the municipality has stalled the establishment of satellite fire stations in Alicedale and Riebeeck-East, said Social Development Director, Mandisi Planga last week [1 February] at the first Social Development committee meeting this year.
“The project in both areas has not started because of land issues.” He added that when they wanted to start building in March last year, they were told to wait until the land was rezoned to suit the purpose of the building. He has since then engaged with the department of Technical Services to resolve the problem. “We were told that the process of rezoning will take seven months… we are still struggling.”
Planga said that they were getting “mixed signals” about when they could start building. He had spoken with the Town Planning unit who said that they were still consulting with Bhisho. “We are just waiting for approval… the budget is available.” “This is a typical example of the non-implementation of rolling out [a project],” said DA Councillor Les Reynolds. He argued that there must be a process to follow without red tape and bureaucracy.
“There is no urgency about this whatsoever… I think there should be an intervention to get this going,” he added. Councillor Julia Wells agreed with Reynold’s comments. She said that during their recent strategic planning session at the Mpekweni beach resort, the department of Technical Services said that this issue was resolved in July. Wells added that she needs clarity on the matter.
Social Development Chairperson, Mthuthuzeli Matyumza arranged for a meeting to take place on that day with the affected departments to get to the bottom of the problem.
