By Tabisa Mntengwana
5 February 2009

BUFFALO City’s success and challenges over the last year were highlighted when the newly elected executive mayor, Zukisa Faku-Hobana, presented the annual report for the year 2007/2008.

Tabling the annual report before the council on 27 January, Faku-Hobana said the municipality’s successes included the Mayoral Imbizo campaigns, the Integrated Development Plan review process and other consultative meetings.

“In short, this annual report captures the extent to which we have addressed the will and expectations of our people.”

She also commended all members of the mayoral committee and other City officials who had worked tirelessly during this time.

The annual report highlighted a number of projects achieved by the municipality, including the construction roads in rural and urban areas; the clearing of illegal dumps; women and youth empowerment projects; electricity provision and housing delivery.

According to the report, the City has successfully completed and revamped a number of roads. Three kilometres of guardrails were installed along the Ziphunzana bypass, 180 speed humps and pedestrian tables were installed, while there was a 4km road widening on the Gonubie main access road.

Traffic circles and median islands were also constructed on Western Avenue and Beaconhurst Drive.

The highlight for the roads department was the upgrading of 20 kilometres of gravel roads in Mdantsane at a cost of R19,5-million and the completion of gravel reconstruction of 40 kilometres of road in various rural areas for R6,6-million.

Infrastructure grant According to the report, the municipality achieved 100 percent expenditure of its Municipal Infrastructure Grant, which amounted to R109-million for the period under review.

Regarding electricity provision, the municipality had several tasks for the year. The Reeston Substation was developed to provide electricity to at least 12 000 households. The development of this substation is now 85 percent complete.

Electricity was also provided to over 1 800 households in areas including Potsdam, Airport Phase 2 and Reeston.

Other areas that benefited were the Esplanade, with the installation of street lighting, the Queenspark Zoo, and Chislehurst, with the planning and implementation of two substations.

In all, Buffalo City spent over R300-million on electricity in the year under review.

During the financial year 2007/2008, a number of low-cost housing projects were undertaken, including Reeston phase 2, Airport phase 2, stage 1 of Potsdam Unit P and Tyutyu phase 2. A total of 2 219 houses were completed with the provision of clean water, waterborne sanitation and electricity at every unit.

Some of the projects were rolled out to the next financial year - 2008/2009 - including the implementation of housing units in Duncan Village, Reeston phase3, stage 2 of Potsdam Unit P, Mdantsane: Manyano and Thembelihle, and the completion of blocked houses in Mdantsane, King William’s Town and Dimbaza.

Through these projects, the City employed more than 600 unskilled workers, male, female and youth.

Approximately R14-million was received by Buffalo City from the national Department of Science and Technology for energy-efficient housing.

Regarding its mandate to ensure the health and safety of its citizens, the City posted a number of highlights, such as road and traffic safety at local schools and communities, primary health – specifically regarding the tuberculosis crisis in he Amathole District.

The municipality also employed and trained 30 professional nurses and the disaster management department participated in more than 100 events.

The annual report also mentioned the various funding projects that were granted to deserving beneficiaries.

These were the Women Empowerment Fund, which received R5-million for projects focusing on women, and R3-million for the Youth Development Fund’s Mayoral Bursary Fund and Mayoral Driving Project.

The funding projects included the Mdantsane Urban Renewal Programme (MURP), where the Livelihoods and Innovation Fund Enhancement Project and the Local Economic Action Partnership received assistance. The two projects were initiated in June 2008.

MURP is also starting on the task of street and neighbourhood naming in Mdantsane. The initiative is set to define neighbourhood boundaries with respect to existing NU boundaries and also ensure community participation through selecting names to use.

Faku-Hobana acknowledged the challenges the municipality had faced in the last financial year and pledged the council’s commitment to improvements.

This came after the auditor-general’s comments during the presentation of its report to the council. “The challenges have been pointed out and we will indeed look into them,” she said.

The auditor-general recommended that appropriate measures be introduced to ensure compliance with legislation, including the formulation of well-constructed measurement tools for the City’s performance management system.

Comment on the annual report is welcomed; all comments and suggestions should be directed to Lawrence Valeta by telephone on 043 705 1038 or via fax on 043 743 1941, or by email on lawrencev@buffalocity.gov.za.

BUFFALO CITY
METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY
A City growing
with you