Dear Residents
Last week the office of the Mayor convened an Intergovernmental Relations Forum meeting. This is a statutory forum established in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act No. 13 of 2005.
Intergovernmental relations (IGR) forums are important interactions of co-operation and interdependence of government units of all types and levels. Their purpose is to co-ordinate priorities and budgets in order to maximise impact. It is also to ensure the execution of government policies through effective communication.
The following departments attended and made presentations of their respective priorities:
Themba TB Hospital
South African Police Service
South African Social Security Agency
Department of Labour and Employment
Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture
Eskom
Settlers Hospital
Department of Home Affairs
The presentation by Eskom is highlighted because of the importance of access to electricity. According to this presentation, the following issues were highlighted:
Electrification is funded from the fiscus through disbursement from National Treasury to the Department of Energy.
The municipal IDP prioritises its backlogs into projects that have to be funded. The Department of Energy manages the programme through a unit called the Integrated National Electrification Programme (INEP).
In terms of Makana’s 2019/2020 electrification plan, R2 121 348 will be spent for the electrification of infills for the benefit of 400 households. In addition, R201 348 has been set aside for the Makana Rural Extension Pre-engineering project.
It was highlighted that Eskom is the service provider of the Free Basic Electricity (FBE) and Makana Municipality is the custodian of the indigent list of customers eligible for this benefit. Eskom reported that there are 15 007 customers with electricity connections in Makana. Of these, 6 356 are configured for FBE.
Below are some of the challenges experienced by Eskom:
* Faulty metres are not reported to the municipalities
* Customers are tampering with the metres
* Data mismatch on Eskom System and the indigent register
* Meters installed by municipalities but data not sent to Eskom
* Illegal connections
* Vandalism of infrastructure
* Electrification of informal settlements
* Communities impatient with delays in electrification
* Cost of providing electricity becoming steeper
It also emerged from this forum that there is a serious matter of peddlers selling drugs around the taxi rank in broad daylight. Small packets of chips are used as a cover to sell drugs. A call for visible policing was made and residents were called to play their part by reporting criminal activity to the police.
On a lighter note, it was reported that escorts of patients and visitors to Settlers Hospital come to the hospital in pyjamas. This makes it difficult for the security to differentiate between patients and a visitors and easy for the patients to abscond.
The forum emphasised the need for all governmental entities to work together in a united way to provide better services to our community.
Honourable Executive Mayor Councillor Mzukisi Mpahlwa
