By Nangamso Mabindla
27 February 2006

"OVER the past five years we have managed to transform our institution and put in good practices and procedures that have benefited the city," Mayor Sindisile Maclean said at the final city council meeting on Friday, 24 February.

Outlining some of the City's achievements, Maclean said the customer satisfaction survey conducted last year gave Buffalo City a satisfaction rating of 59 percent. "Our A-minus credit rating says we have strong capacity to repay long-term liabilities. As a result the World Bank has put R100-million at our disposal for immediate use in our projects."

The City had also succeeded in delivering basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity to its households. "I am told that 96 percent of our households have a basic water supply, over 86 percent have access to basic sanitation and 73 percent have access to electricity. A total of 47 percent of households get free basic services as they earn less than R1 650 a month," the mayor said.

As one of the country's poorer cities, Buffalo City also looked to claim its fair share of the R374-billion Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa, which is aimed at overcoming barriers to economic growth and ensuring that this growth produces more jobs.

"Major political and business forces are at work to position the city to make an inter-locking business case which will unlock the potential of our harbour, our rail network to Gauteng and the interior and boost the role of the Industrial Development Zone and our automotive industry," Maclean said.

However, the city's economy was still reliant on the automotive industry, and Maclean called for diversification and the creation of jobs despite the rising threat of unemployment caused by the mismatch between jobs available and the skills required to fill the jobs.

"Last year we created 500 jobs through municipal capital projects, especially in water and infrastructural development in the Reeston area, where there were 239 jobs created."

The City's local economic development initiatives yielded more than 400 trained co-operative members from 32 co-operatives. "We also trained over 200 people in business skills training at our Mdantsane One Stop Shop. Our involvement with the King William's Town Business Place created a public-private partnership, while there were 266 jobs created in our Mqokozo Agricultural Programme."

Buffalo City also won numerous awards, including the provincial Vuna Awards, the coveted National Vuna Award in 2003 and the cleanest city municipal award. "We can go on and on about our success, but we hope we can overcome the challenges facing our municipality as well. We must refocus our eyes on creating a society without the bondage of materialism or the bondage of poverty," Maclean added.