Randall Williams
Pretoria - Greetings Tshwane residents.
It is that time of the year where families come together to celebrate the festive season. It is a perfect season to show love, compassion and forgiveness and to help the needy where we can.
The holidays are a festive time of the year when we share special moments with our family, friends and loved ones and look ahead to a new year filled with promise and opportunity.
In the spirit of giving and spreading Christmas cheer, the City of Tshwane embarked on a Mayoral Christmas Campaign this December to give away gifts to nine early childhood development centres in all the regions of Tshwane.
About 500 children from the City’s early childhood development centres received gifts and food packs through this Christmas drive. We did this because we believe that every child deserves a happy and memorable Christmas. On this note, I want to appeal to businesses and civil society to open their hearts and reach out to the less privileged during this season and spread the message of hope and love.
As we are winding down, I want to quickly reflect on our 12 months in office. Indeed, our multiparty coalition government faced many service delivery challenges, but we pushed ahead to ensure that we deliver on core service delivery items. These basic services include cutting grass, patching potholes, repairing water leaks and fixing street lights.
During our 12 months in office, we have cut more than 183 million square meters of grass and repaired more than 75 000 potholes. We have also repaired about 60 000 street lights. Our water and sewerage teams have also been hard at work, and we repaired about 46 000 water leaks and more than 23 000 sewers have been unblocked.
We continue to put a lot of effort and emphasis on front line basic services because it is important that we inspire confidence in our administration, and it is equally important for ratepayers to see where their money is going.
Improving service delivery means that we must stabilise City finances and increase our revenue collection. This where our residents come in: Everyone needs to pay for services rendered.
We must tackle the culture of non-payment for services, which is one of the reasons that we embarked on our #TshwaneYaTima revenue collection campaign.
As a municipality, we purchase electricity and water in bulk, which means that by the time we distribute these services, we have already paid on our side. If we then fail to receive revenue back for services rendered, it leaves us with shortfalls in our finances. This is detrimental to municipalities, which need revenue to operate optimally and deliver services to residents.
So, the message here is that you should help us to help you with improved service delivery. This means that all must pay for services rendered.
Another matter that is worth mentioning is our robust law enforcement campaign to make Tshwane a safe city for all. Going forward, we will pay special attention to by-law enforcement and ensure that businesses in the Pretoria CBD have all the necessary licences and permits or they will be shut them down with no fear, no favour.
Street traders must also comply and obtain trading licences. We are going to push law enforcement in Tshwane with multiple operations; no more playing nice. Our residents must feel safe in the city they call home.
I want to assure you all that our multiparty government is committed to improving service delivery for all. We will work even harder next year to turn things around for the better.
With that said, I hope you will accept my heartfelt greetings for the holidays. This time of the year brings excitement. To those who will be travelling, please always drive safely and responsibly.
I trust that the holidays will bring you a chance to rest and recharge. Let this season bring you and your loved ones a great deal of joy and peace.
Happy holidays! Have a wonderful festive season. Stay safe and be blessed.
Pretoria News