Tshwane mayor highlights service delivery gains on back of ANC protest

The coalition government, which consists of six parties (namely the DA, Action SA, FF+, ACDP, IFP, and Cope), has been in power for the past year.

In light of recent developments in Gauteng’s DA-led Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg metros, where the stability of coalition governments has been challenged through motions of no confidence, Williams said Tshwane has the advantage of being a majority coalition.

“The six of us together have a majority coalition government, which gives us the advantage of being able to vote as a solid block in council. This is what sets the City of Tshwane apart from the other Gauteng coalition government. If we continue to work together, there will be no need for so-called kingmakers.”

He said the coalition government identified 10 strategic focus areas which include water and electricity infrastructure, enhancing safety, security and emergency services, maintenance of road infrastructure and expansion of public transport, employing stringent financial management and oversight - among others.

“Along with the top strategic plans, core basic service delivery has been a priority for our coalition government. We strongly believe that visible service delivery of the day-to-day operations is important. These core basic services include cutting grass, patching potholes, repairing water leaks, and fixing streetlights.

“During our 12 months in office, we have cut 183 million square meters of grass and we have repaired over 75 000 potholes. We’ve also repaired about 60 000 streetlights.”

At the same time, the mayor said the Tshwane ANC’s service delivery march to his office, which took place over the weekend, was disingenuous.

He claims the opposition bussed in marchers: “When we took over the city [it] was in a great mess already in 2016. The issue of Hammanskraal started already in 1996. It was constantly in council and the ANC ignored it and now they want to come in as the saviours. They are not the saviours.”

The mayor also says the city has repaired nearly 46 000 water leaks and unblocked 23 000 sewers.

Williams said despite inheriting a R4.3 billion deficit from the period when the city was placed under administration in 2020, work is being done to bolster the city’s coffers by improving revenue collection.

“Tshwane ya tima was launched, which is our aggressive revenue collection campaign where we disconnect defaulting clients. This has helped to challenge the culture of non-payment. Earlier in the year, our monthly revenue collection averaged around R2.5 billion per month. However, in the last five months this has improved reaching high collection levels of R3.5 billion in some months.”

According to Williams about 67% of the city’s residents pay for services.

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