MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Ward 3 March Report

By

www.MyPE.co.za: To see how hard working Ward Councillors go about their jobs, see Ward 3 councillor, Andre Goosen’s report below.

This is the final report from Professor Andre Goosen as he is retiring after the 18 May local elections.

Port Elizabeth thanks you for your sterling service to the community Prof and may your retirement days be filled with sailing – I know that you are not solely a fair weather sailor so will wish you the strongest of winds and best of seas!

As Prof. Goosen says; “The DA candidate for Ward 3 is Dave Hayselden. Please vote as every vote is important. The number of votes received determines the number of Proportional Representatives a party gains in Council.”

HUMAN RESOURCES & CORPORATE ADMINISTRATION

  1. The committee decided that they would not purchase the Stepping Stone building in Bethelsdorp in view of the current state of the municipality’s finances and the risk of creating a white elephant.
  2. The NMBM will dispose of Erf 349, New-Brighton, at a market related price.
  3. The NMBM in accord with the lease agreement with Hazra (44) investment share block (Pty) limited as a signage to Board Walk properties (Pty) Ltd under the same terms and conditions of the original lease agreement.
  4. The committee has approved the lease of the building on Erf 36, Summerstrand, known as Something Good and it will be advertised for expressions of interest.
  5. The building previously used the rent offices in Bethelsdorp is currently vacant and violent crimes are being committed in and around the building. The committee has recommended that this be advertised and call for expressions of interest to lease this building.
  6. A building on Erf 3179, Uitenhage, which was previously used as an orphanage is currently vacant and violence crimes are being committed in and around this building. Hence this will also be offered lease.
  7. The committee has approved that Telkom install an antennae and ancillary equipment of a roof of the Lilian Diedricks building subject to a series of conditions.
  8. The committee has approved the disposal of a number of computers, chairs etc. which are irreparable.
  9. In the presentation on absenteeism it was pointed out that the municipality losses 306 years per year due to absenteeism and this equates to a wage bill of R5.6 million. The NMBM losses 103% more than private enterprises. 4.66% of absenteeism is due to stress.
  10. The committee has recommended that candidate valuerers be permitted to progress to the position of valuerer by introducing a career path based on the TASK job description requirements. The career path was approved. At present there are 6 vacancies of valuerer and only 1 candidate valuerer meets the criteria for progression.
  11. Employees who have to go for assessment of trade testing will be given special leave as and when required. At present there are a total of 202 members of staff who are participating in the Artisan development programme.
  12. The NMBM has the obligation to capacitate those unemployed and employees in various skills of skills development. The construction plumbing training has been identified as a trading need. Depending on available funding the construction plumbing learnership will be implemented and financed by and within the framework of the financial contribution by LGSETA.
  13. 55 unemployed graduates were placed in various directorates of the NMBM. Of the 55 seven were permanently employed in the private sector and 2 by the NMBM. The committee approved that amount of R2,284 million be made available from the LGSETA grant for the remuneration of unemployed graduates who will receive approximately R50 748 per annum.
  14. Learners who are participating in the Adult Based Education & Training (ABET) programme will be transported by municipal vehicles to the places of residence after attending evening classes.

MUNICIPAL PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE

  1. In the progress report on Non-Revenue water it was stated that the Engineering Management Information System for Water & Sanitation services has been installed and extended. It is successfully integrating many of the management components including, GIS, complaints data base, flow networks, asset management and operations as well as maintenance. It must be noted that the success of the management system is entirely dependant on the accurate of the billing system.
  2. The water service had over 210 water meters and old meters are being replaced as these give incorrect readings.
  3. The Management System has concluded that there is potential for advanced pressure control in certain P.E areas with high losses.
  4. Water loss survey indicated that the minimum night flow to be about 60% of the average flow. This indicates high MRW and water wastage.
  5. A contractor has been appointed to allocate repairs at meter leaks. To – date 300 leaks at meters have been repaired.
  6. Internal leaks at houses are compiled and leaks are repaired in terms of the meter leaks to the poor programme.
  7. The Metro will use contractors to repair water leaks at schools and the cost will be refunded by the Department of Education.
  8. The expenditure on non-revenue water initiatives to December 2010 is reflected as: ATTP-internal leaks repairs: R5,982 million and Leak detections and repairs: R6,664 million.
  9. In order to reduce NRW to acceptable levels one of the key building blocks will be accurate information. This information is needed from the billing system.
  10. The NMBM applied for R1, 6 Billion for drought relief to National Government.
  11. The Minister of Finance, in his budget speech, allocated R450 million to the NMBM for drought relief interventions.
  12. Due to the current financial constraints the NMBM cannot supply anymore funding as it has already spent R154 million.
  13. When the funding arrives the NMBM will have to look further to reprioritize its capital budget to ultimately secure water.
  14. In the report on the Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) it was reported that most work packages have been complete with the exception of the Addo road pedestrian walk way. The Taxi Association are demanding that location and loading arrangements of the modal interchanges be changed. The Taxi co-operative is also demanding control of the facilities with the stipulation that the co-operative has a 40% participation in the construction of the project, without for them having the necessary skills and capacity for such an undertaking.
  15. The National Department of Transport (NDoT) has instructed the NMBM to review and revise the public transport operation demand. The public transport model is currently being revised to ensure that the system operate under optimal conditions; this means that the number of taxis previously proposed will have to be reduced significantly in terms of the NDoT scrapping requirements.
  16. A court interdict has been tabled by the Port Elizabeth and District Taxi Association against the implementation of the system.
  17. The following critical tasks will be part of the action to be undertaken: Verification of income of taxi operators, Verification of the number of taxi vehicles, Devise the method or formula and the performance of operator to the payment of guarantee / compensation, Divide and implement a plan that will enable the 25 new buses to be operated in the short term. It is anticipated that these critical task will be completed by the end of April 2011.
  18. The critical challenge is to reach an agreement with the taxi associations as they are resistant to the survey.
  19. The way forward as legal issues concerning the court interdict will have to be addressed and resolved with all parties as a matter of urgency.
  20. National Treasury and NDoT will be provided with details for implementation for boch infrastructure and operational requirements.

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

  1. Only one matter for ward 3 and that was the subdivision of Erf 3426, Hallack Road, Central which was approved.

150 YEARS CELEBRATION OF ST. GEORGES PARK

I attended the inaugural meeting for this celebration and was most impressed with all the first to the various sporting codes in St. Georges Park. This celebration will run for a number of months during this year as more meetings will be held in order to finalise the programme.

COUNCIL MEETING ON THE 13TH OF FEBRUARY

  1. Rezoning of Erf 1560, 95 Heugh Road, Walmer, from Residential 1 to Business 3 was approved.
  2. Rezoning of Erf 1770, 100 Heugh Road, Walmer, from Residential 1 to Business 1 was refused but rezoning to Business 2 purposes was approved subject to the series of conditions
  3. Rezoning of Erf 4184, 180 Main Raod, Walmer, was refused but given Special purposes in order to have a tea garden, nursery and dwelling unit, subject to the series of conditions.
  4. Erf 1006, 186 Main Road, Walmer, rezoning from Residential 1 to Business 3 purposes was refused.
  5. Special Consent was granted to Erf 877, 60 – 5th Avenue, Walmer, to operate a place of instruction (Toddler Movement Group) was approved subject to the series of conditions.

COUNCIL MEETING ON THE 24TH OF MARCH 2011

There is nothing specific to report from this meeting as most of the items were dealt with at the standing committees

The supplementary agenda presented to council dealt with the report of the municipal public account committee on the 2009 / 10 annual report. This may be read on the hard copy which is available at the ward 3 office.

SPORT RECREATION ARTS & CULTURE

  1. The NMBM libraries programme for January to July 2011 was presented. These programmes do the following: Draw the public into libraries so as to promote the library use, Encourages reading & literacy, Ensure that libraries are at the centre of community events and Bring cultural events related to reading to the different communities.
  2. The holiday programme entices it targets boys and girls of all ages (as well as parents / caregivers) to attend a variety of activities including story times, videos, games, colouring in, arrange of handy crafts, and talks by specialist on various options. Each library will put up process to advertise their own activities and the public is welcome to make recommendations.
  3. The Sports Indaba scheduled for 24 / 25 February 2011 was not held due to the unavailability of both the Ministers of Sport and Arts & Culture.
  4. The 50 participants participated in the making of films went to an award ceremony at the University Auditorium. On each evening over 200 members of the public attended the screenings. The committee has recommended that the film Festival be made an annual event and that the executive director seek funding from Lotto and elsewhere for this event.
  5. There was a presentation on the Mendi Multi-Purpose Cultural Centre. The NMBM has committed a sum of R5 million to the capital budget for construction and (DSRAC) has committed R1,542 million for this project. Once the designs are completed the Executive director has been requested to solicit adequate funding for this facility.
  6. In the quarterly report on the Arts Museum it was stated that 8 tours by 24 practical art workshops were conducted for schools groups (1280 pupil). This excellent may be read on the hard copy which is available at the ward 3 office.
  7. The officials have recommended that a blue flag forum be established to reinstate the blue flag beaches of the NMBM. This forum will carry out a series of tasks to get the blue flag status back for our beaches. The officials recommended that proposals be made from interested parties to utilize the beaches for advertising and trading. However this will require changes in the advertising by-law as well as the by-law on trading at the beaches. The aim of this is to raise funds to maintain the beaches.
  8. The committee has recommended that the NMBM acquires Erf 60646 which together with Erf 50730 will be utilized to establish a swimming pool at New-Brighton.
The following two tabs change content below.

Ward 3

Ward 3 Councillor Andre Goosen 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. Tel: 041 586 2453 Cell: 083 405 0320 E-Mail: ward3[at]mandelametro.gov.za

Latest posts by Ward 3 (see all)