Faku on a
hundred days in office
By Tabisa Mntengwana
18 May 2009
ZUKISA FAKU sits comfortably in her City Hall office, contemplating the first 100 days of her term as executive mayor of Buffalo City.
“It feels like yesterday,” she says, of the day she became the city’s first citizen. “When I moved from Amathole District Municipality the City was under attack from the media since I was the third mayor within a short space of time.”
She acknowledges that her move from Amathole was smooth.
Faku’s mission as executive mayor is to prioritise service delivery; already some road and stormwater projects have been implemented on her watch.
These include the refurbishment of the Umzonyana Water Treatment Works, Quenera Waste Water Treatment Works and Zwelitsha Waste Water Treatment Works, and the Chalumna Sanitation project.
The sanitation works are operating efficiently to reduce or eliminate the smell and improve the quality of effluent flows.
“During the last 100 days, a number of projects have been prioritised under the auspices of the Mayoral Imbizo Fund,” she points out. “These projects have and are currently receiving urgent attention in order to ensure that requests from communities are addressed.”
Faku also emphasises that the City wants to focus on visible service delivery and fix ageing infrastructure. “Most City buildings, halls and stadiums are not in good shape and it is one of our priorities, including electricity, maintaining and sustaining what we have.”
Speaking of roads and construction, various projects are on the cards, including the rehabilitation of rural roads, the patching and overlaying of damaged roads in Mdantsane, and paving the main access road in Nompumelelo.
“These projects are in line with the objectives and strategies of the roads, construction and projects department and the municipality has rolled out a few of these,” she explains.
Faku also touches on housing delivery, mentioning that nearly 400 houses have been handed over to beneficiaries in Tyutyu Village.
Challenges
But there are also challenges ahead, the mayor acknowledges. There are four vacancies at directorship level; the municipal administration is unstable and the municipal manager’s post has been advertised. “After a few months in office I have realised that the staff, together with residents, have gained confidence again in the administration of the City.”
In the last 100 days, several local economic development projects have been held in Buffalo City, including the Ironman 70.3 and the Africa Open Golf Challenge.
She speaks of urban and rural agriculture, in which at least six co-operatives have benefited, and the construction of a shearing shed for the Gwaba Wool Growers. “These are the kind of projects that will boost our economy, hospitality industry and expose our city to outside countries.”
Giving her views on the Mdantsane Urban Renewal Programme the mayor says that through the neighbourhood and street naming initiative, residents chose appropriate names that will reflect their township’s identity.
And then there is the City’s metropolitan readiness; Faku says the municipality has been engaging with the South African Cities Network to develop a strategy that will enable it to ensure a smooth transition into metropolitan status.
She has good relationships with the councillors, she says, including the newly elected mayoral committee members. “I trust my councillors with any task given. They have ethics and are experienced people.”
In winding up, she sends a message to residents, urging them to be patient when it comes to service delivery issues. “I want to urge officials to be committed to their work and maintain good ethics while implementing the Batho Pele principles,” she ends.
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