Port Elizabeth: MyPE

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To see how Ward Councillors go about their jobs, see Ward 8's councillor, Gustav Rautenbach's newsletter below, and don't forget to see what Jeremy Davis has been up to in Ward 5; Andre Goosen in Ward 3; Retief Odendaal in Ward 6, Heinrich Muller in Ward 9, Gustav Rautenbach in Ward 8, Dean Biddulph in Ward 2 and Stanford Slabbert in Ward 1.

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From Councillor Gustav Rautenbach...

WARD 8 NEWS - August 2010

In This Edition:

AFRIKAANSE WEERGAWE

1. IEC Offices relocated

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) recently relocated their offices from Brister House to 122 Cape Road, Mill Park (on the corner of Cape and Way Road).

There is probably nothing worse than standing in a queue at a voting station only to find out that you are registered incorrectly and have to do it all over again.

If you are not registered or want to verify whether you are on the voters roll for the 2011 Local Municipal Election visit their new offices or you can use the following methods:

IEC offices: Tel. 041-373-8604 or 041-373-8611
Website: www.elections.org.za
SMS ID to 32810

2. By-law relating to prevention of public nuisances and public nuisances arising from the keeping of animals

I am receiving numerous reports from residents complaining regarding dogs roaming around the streets not being on a leash. The above by-law was promulgated on 31 March 2010 and part 19 of the said by-law stipulates the following:

Dogs in streets or public places
1. Subject to the provisions of the Public Amenities By-law, the owner or keeper of a dog may not bring or allow it in a street or public place unless the dog is on a leash.
2. Except in the event of a blind person being lead by a guide dog, a person in charge of a dog in a street or public place, must remove any faeces left by the dog by wrapping it in paper or plastic and disposing of it in a receptacle provided for litter or refuse.
3. A person who contravenes any of the provisions of subsection (1) or (2) commits an offence.

If you are interested, a copy of the said by-law can be collected at my office or e-mailed to yourself.

3. Overgrown grass around electrical sub-stations

The DA asked the question why there is such a long delay by the Municipality to cut the grass around sub-stations and received the following answer:

"There were a number of extenuating circumstances which contributed to the above-mentioned delay. They are as follows:

Although renewal of the sub-station lawn mowing contract within the Supply Chain Management process was underway, it was necessary for a quotation to be obtained due to the fact that the new contract had not been awarded yet. It is important to note that the above-mentioned sub-station is one of 377 sub-stations, which need to be moved;
On 28 May 2010 the required quotations were received;
On 2 June 2010 requisitions were submitted to the Purchasing Division (Budget & Treasury);
On 10 June 2010 orders were received from the Purchasing Division (Budget & Treasury) and were then given to the contractor;
On 15 June 2010, the cutting of all 377 sub-stations quoted for, commenced.
One of the main reasons for the delay was the fact that during that time, the Purchasing Division (Budget & Treasury) relocated their premises.
Cognisance must be taken of the fact that the average sub-station has 40 m² of grass surrounding it and major sub-stations have between 250 and 500m² of grass to be managed. These sub-stations are mowed on a rotational basis.
The Electricity & Energy Directorate is presently formulating a streamlined tender process in order to ensure that the service delivery is not hindered in the future."

4. Application for an old age pension/grant

I want to encourage all persons (men and women) who are 60 years and older and qualifies to apply for an old age pension according to the following criteria to apply therefore:

ASSETS THRESHOLD (property, investments, etc) - Single person: R 518 400, Married persons: R 1 036 800
INCOME THRESHOLD (pension, interest, help from children, etc) - Single person: R 31 296 per year (R 2 608 per month), Married persons: R 62 592 per year (R 5 216 per month).

You are welcome to contact my office if you need more information.

5. Application for pensioner's / disabled person’s property rates rebate

If you are the owner of a residential property, 60 years and older, or disabled and the total gross annual income from all persons normally residing on that property does not exceed R78 720 per annum (R6 560 pm) you can apply to receive a rebate on your property rates ranging from 10 % to 100%. Application forms are available at my office.

6. Application for assistance to the poor (ATTP)

If the total monthly household income of all residents on your property is less than 2 state pensions (R2 160 pm) you can apply for assistance to the poor (ATTP) to receive the following free basic services:

Free 8kl of water
Free basic sanitation
Free 75 kwh electricity
Free basic refuse removal
Property rates subsidy

For more information you are welcome to contact my office.

7. Stop streets

It is of great concern to see how many motorists in the Metro fail to stop at a stop sign. I urge motorists to stop at a stop sign. The fine for disobeying a stop sign is R 1000, 00. This is a lot of money to just throw in the water!

8. Extension of Romary Road and improvement to storm water infrastructure

The contractors, Mawethu Civils, set up camp on 6 August 2010. The project budget amounts to 2,4 million and the contract period is 4 months with an estimated completion date of 26 November 2010.

The activities entail:

The installation of a new 450mm diameter stormwater pipe along the new extension to Romary Road. This pipe will run adjacent to the western side of the road, from the existing catch pit to the southern side of Woodlands Avenue (approximately 80m).
The abovementioned pipe will feed into the new proposed stormwater pipe along Woodlands Drive. The pipe will be upgraded from 300mm diameter to 600mm diameter until approximately 100m before Bordeaux Avenue, where it will be 525mm diameter. The pipe will follow the existing stormwater pipe’s alignment until Weybridge Drive. From there onwards, in order to avoid the large trees on the verge, it will run under the northern side of the road parallel to the existing pipe.
A berm will be constructed along the northern side of Woodlands Drive, from opposite Romary Road to Weybridge, to prevent major flood water from flowing into low lying erven. The berm will initially be 300mm above edge of tar level and will then taper off over approximately 200m until reaching ground level. The berm will be landscaped and grassed according to the property owner’s requirements.
Romary Road will be extended from where it currently terminates, just after the intersection with Bayeux Road, to connect to Woodlands Drive.
The proposed construction will be black top and will be approximately 300 metres long. The NMBM standard road cross section will apply to the design, and a road width of 6,22 metres will be adopted as this is the current width of the existing potion of Romary Road.

9. Problem of long queues at Traffic Department

During a Council meeting held on 22 July 2010 I referred to a Key Performance Element (KPE) and stated that the problem of long queues at municipal offices and in particular those at the Traffic Department, was a result of staff shortages and that this problem should be addressed as a matter of priority to improve service delivery to the public. The Speaker stated that the Acting Municipal Manager should ensure that the turn-around time for serving members of the public at all municipal facilities was improved.

10. Outstanding Municipal account: Deduction of money when buying pre-paid electricity

My office is receiving many enquiries from residents whether the Municipality is permitted to deduct monies from persons with outstanding municipal accounts when they purchase pre-paid electricity. I received the following answer from the Chief Financial Officer:

Due to the huge amount of municipal accounts that must be processed by the Treasury Directorate, it is necessary that these accounts be spread out and delivered on a daily basis. For this purpose the Metro is divided into 21 zones and every zone has different dates when the metres are read , accounts are processed as well as due dates for the payment of accounts. Due dates are therefore stretched out from the 1st to the 30/31st day of the month and not just on the last day of the month.

According to Section 15(4) of the Income Management and Customer Services By-Law, Council has the authority to suspend the purchase of pre-paid electricity by an account holder if such account holder is in arrears with any other service. Council may also allocate a portion of the purchased pre-paid electricity to any other debt.

It must be taken into account that the municipality grants account holders a month to pay costs that was charged for the previous month. However, it seems as if clients are paying their municipal services of a certain month with their salary/pension of the following month. In stead of paying their June account with their June salary/pension, which would leave enough time for electronic payments, they pay it with their July salary/pension which in many instances does not allow the 4 days transfer period.

11. Dam levels

The levels of the major storage dams supplying the Metro as at 23 August 2010 are as follows:

Kouga: 36,2%
Churchill: 25,3%
Impofu: 35,7%
Loerie: 37,3%
Groendal: 32,9%
Average: 34,6% of total combined capacity

I again appeal to all residents to use our scarce water resource very sparingly!

SAVE IT, OR DO WITHOUT IT !

12. Speed law enforcement in Trevor Road, Lorraine

My office received the following law enforcement report regarding Trevor Road from the Traffic Department:

On Thursday, 12 August 2010 between the hours of 06:30 and 08:30, 210 vehicles were measured and no motorists were prosecuted – the highest 70 km/h.
On Friday, 20 August 2010 between the hours of 16:00 and 21:00, 170 vehicles were measured and no motorists were prosecuted – the highest 68 km/h.

13. Dirty street gutters, Lorraine

The Lorraine area is one of those areas where we have no dedicated street sweepers due to staff shortages. However, the Waste Management supervisor for the area has started sweeping , but it is going to take some time to finish all the gutters. Sweepers from other areas will also be taken in to assist in the maintenance of the cleanliness in Lorraine.

www.MyPE.co.za: To see how hard working Ward Councillors go about their jobs, see Ward 3's councillor, Andre Goosen's report below, and don't forget to see what Jeremy Davis has been up to in Ward 5, Heinrich Muller in Ward 9, Retief Odendaal in Ward 6, Stanford Slabbert in Ward 1, Gustav Rautenbach in Ward 8 and Dean Biddulph in Ward 2.

To subscribe to the MyPE email updates, click here.

From Councillor Andre Goosen ...

WARD 3 REPORT - August 2010

In this Report:

Housing & Land
Infrastructure Engineering
Economic Development Tourism & Agriculture

HOUSING & LAND

Rezoning & Special Consent, Erf: 3261, How, Avenue, Central rezoning from Residential 1 to Special Purposes was refused but despite the objection received it was rezoned from Residential 1 to Residential 3 Purposes and that Special Consent be granted to permit Erf 3261 to be used for Medical Purposes subject to a series of conditions.
Erf 2045, 82 River Road, Walmer, had been granted Special Consent to permit the property to be used as a Guest house.
Erf 925, 54 Main Road, Walmer, request for Special Consent to permit a licensed restaurant was approved. As Councillor I recommended refusal since it is against the Walmer Policy Plan.

INFRASTRUCTURE ENGINEERING

The Electricity Distribution industry restructuring was presented by consultants who inform the committee that the NMBM ring fencing progress had been concluded and that a workshop will be arrange to discuss the programme and the way forward. In a private discussion Dr Barnard he assured me that all our concerns will be adequately addressed.
There was a report on the number of Erven which will be electrified and the aim is to electrify 5014 by the end of this financial year. Council approved a total capital budget allocation of R15,995 million for the implementation of the electrification programme for 2009/10 of which 100% has already been spent at the end of April 2010.
A committee led by Councillor Manentsa and officials from Electricity & Energy met with officials from Electricity & Energy who are responsible for the allocation of funds for electrification had a discussion on the electrification of informal dwellings. The NMBM had been requested to develop a strategic document to address the electrification of informal settlements. This strategy will consider the requirements of the Department of Energy and the outcome is targeted at attaining funding for the selected number of informal settlement for which the Department of Energy will provide guarantee letters. This strategy will then be incorporated in the National process and could act as a starting point for other large Cities and Metros.
The Division of Revenue Act (DORA) has put in R30 million for 2009/ 10 and R25 million for 2010/2011 and R30 million in 2011/12 for energy efficient projects. These will include compact fluorescent lamp roll-out, energy efficient street lamps, energy efficient high mast lighting, energy efficiency in municipal buildings, traffic lights conversions LED and energy efficiency in water and waste water projects. Of these only the energy efficient high mast lighting and energy efficiency in the waste and water project has not yet been started.
Following on a motion about the overgrown grass around electrical sub- stations. The committee was informed that budget is available and that it will be done by the grass cutters contacted to the Parks division.
As at the 13th of June 2010 our dams were 35.5% full. The actual consumption in June this year was 11.4% lower than the consumption which the officials estimated. The average daily consumption is about 235 mega liters.
In the Micro biological test on our drinking water the SANS requirement is 97% and the NMBM compliance is 97.8% compared with the Eastern Cape which has 96.5%. In the chemical test the SANS requirement is 85% and the NMBM compliance is 99.9%. Hence the water being produced by the NMBM is safe for human consumption.
A total of R124 billion has been spent on the tarring of gravel roads through out the Metro. The officials reported that although there has been a slow start due to EIA requirements and the introduction of the new preferential procurement policy, the construction component is well on track to meet targets. The discharges from the Metro 7 waste water treatment works comply with the general standard and the authorization. The non-compliance of the industrial final affluent from Fish Water Flats wwtw is due to illegal discharges as well as hydraulic and organic overload. Consultants have been appointed to look at the process and hydraulic capacities of all the works.
After various virements, i.e transfer of funds to the next financial year the officials reported that the capital budget expenditure will be excess of 96% by the end of June 2010.
Contracts had been awarded for the construction of basic sanitation services in areas of the Metro where no sanitation or bucket sanitation exists. The bucket system is not considered to be basic sanitation. One of the problems is the tender amounts were much higher than anticipated and also the financial position on the budget. Owing to the above problem the NMBM will not be making the 2010 deadline for basic sanitation hence the basic sanitation.
The expenditure of the project to inform the public to use less water was R18 .285 million.
There will be a workshop on the integrated water resource management strategy in due course.
Despite repeated advertising for civil engineers in the Local & National press, the recruitment has been minimal. Some new recruits are leaving better opportunities else where whilst others have capacity challenges. This impacts very seriously on the performance of the Infrastructure & Engineering directorate. The officials have recommended that interfacing with a remuneration project are undertaken by human resources directorate to determine suitable remunerative provisions for intended scarce skills recruits.
The officials also proposed that the infrastructure & engineering directorate be divided into two directorates namely: water & sanitation directorate and integrated transport directorate.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOURISM & AGRICULTURE

There was a presentation made by BIDEVCO BBVEE Consortium on the Coega refinery. Mr van Wyk stated that they would be business partners and that government with a limit each partner to a R2 billion portion. Petro SA as well as other oil companies would be partners. In the refinery the petroleum coke will be used to generate power and there will also be desalination plant. This consortium stated that there will be approximately R2.1 billion in salaries and 16000 permanent jobs created. It also stated that this refinery will use more cement than all the Soccer stadium in South Africa. The crude oil will come from Brazil, Ghana & Afrika.
In the presentation on the Standard Bank Community Investment Fund Mr Patrick Ooro said that communities will be involved in investments and that these funds will be available at low interest he said that businesses in the various communities. SBCS has developed a social corporate investment programme which will in assist the informal traders, co- operatives and all businesses to access funding and also build their financial profile.
Mrs Mahuwa of NMBU made a presentation on the Co-operatives development sector. The NMBM is one of the leading municipalities in the implemention of the National Policy on Co-operatives, and persuisance of meaningful participation of the Co-operative Sector in the attainment of Local Economic Development imperatives.
The Economic Development Directorate has developed a business plan and R1.5 million has been available in 2009/10 for the implementation of the Co-operative Development Centre at the University.
There was a presentation on the Auto SMME Sector LED by Mr Grant Minnie. The aim on this sector is to support informal/formal businesses that are operating from back yards and also bring them into the main stream economy in order to nurture Economic Development and job creation. The idea is to find suitable land where these small auto practitioners can be housed and to empower them with skills to sustain their trade.
A co-operatives exhibition – emerging designer exhibition which will be held in October 2010. The objectives of this programme are to improve and strengthen relations between the co-operatives sector and government and to ensure consultations among all business units. It also provides information and training to the co-operatives on tendering, co-operative legislation and procurement opportunities. It is estimated that there will be 350 participants from all the various stakeholders. The committee has approved a budget of R300 000 for this programme.
The SEDA Nelson Mandela Bay Information, Communication & Technology Incubator constitutes to the process of creating small enterprises in the sector and it is a steady pipeline to the various clients as well as at these tertiary institutions.
There was a detailed report on the National Business Incubation Conference Association which was held in Orlando, Florida, USA. The committee has recommended that the NMBM apply for membership to the National Business Incubation Association since it will allow numerous benefits and they also recommend that more representatives from the Municipality attend the Annual Conference.
In the report on the SEDA Construction Incubator it was stated that the purpose is to provide selected contractors training in order to assist them to operate sustainable businesses. This will be done by training and mentorship.
In the report on the market it was shown that the turnover has increased to R249. 399 million in 2009/10 as opposed to R224. 948 millions in 2008/9. The sale of potatoes decreased from 74 081 tons in 2008/9 to 31 148 tons in 2009/10 but the sale of vegetables increased from 15 508 tons last year to 19 398 tons this year. Surprisingly the most expensive vegetable was tomatoes which fetched R4 675 per ton and secondly was bananas which fetched R4 095 per ton. In contrast potatoes fetched R2 595 per ton.
The committee has supported the process to identify a suitable form of recognition for buyers e.g. buyer one purchase R21.8 million and buyers 12 purchase was R1.232 million. Three buyers will be divided into 5 groups and be given some form of recognition.
The committee is going to have a workshop to deal with all issues relate to commonages.
All reports on planning agriculture project appraisal were not available and will be presented to the committee at the next meeting.
A letter granting the Nelson Mandela Bay Community Station a temporary licence to operate has been received from ICASA and this radio station will be placed for open tender to be a Non-profit station and a Section 21 Company.
Since the current international travel approval process is not rapid enough the committee has recommended that international travel by officials of the Sub-Directorate Trade & Investors be approved by the Executive Director and endorsed by the Municipal Manager in order to meet the investor deadlines.
The business process outsourcing and off-shoring/promotion of services sector is promoting the employment of people in various call centres. At present 952 persons have been employed at various call centres. The largest are ABSA & Vodacom for each employed 240 people whereas the Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism call centre only employed 3 people. VW contact centre employed 104 people. The standing committee has approved and supports the following up of the investment leads by undertaking working visits to Australia, Brazil & India in order to enter into negotiations with the visits investors.
The standing committee supports the hosting of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Awards and has approved the funding of R300 000 for hosting this event.
There were detailed reports on the Uitenhage Despatch Development Initiative and the Mandela Development Agency which can be read via the CD which can be obtain from the Ward 3 office.

Best Regards

André Goosen
(Ward 3 Cllr)
Tel: 041 586 2453
Cell: 083 405 0320
E-Mail: ward3[at]mandelametro.gov.za

Ward 3 covers the following area: Walmer, Greenshields Park, Walmer Heights, Park Drive from Doncaster Rd 1st Cape Rd up to Mill Park (east side) College Drive (Grey School) N.E. Mill Rd up to Hampton Rd