The ANC’s Eugene Modise has been chosen to serve as the City of Tshwane’s new deputy mayor.
He succeeds the current executive mayor, Nasiphi Moya, in a new multiparty coalition with ActionSA, ANC, and the EFF.
Modise made it clear in his acceptance speech that he would not put up with careless behaviour, but he pledged to carry on the good work of the previous administration.
He pledged to make the workplace welcoming and secure for all people who work for the city.
“There will never be a single cent returned to the Treasury in my term of office,” Modise said.
“The capital projects will be supported and monitored like a nuclear power plant. We are going to expedite the approval of certificates for two state-of-the-art buildings from 2016.
“We have done disservice to the poor people of Hammanskraal and Soshanguve, who are travelling kilometres and even using double transport to access health services.”
He also promised to visit and apologise to the families of two employees who tragically lost their lives during a prolonged strike, saying he would assess the welfare of their dependents.
Jacqui Uys, the DA Tshwane caucus chairperson, urged Modise to address a R690 000 overdue municipal debt.
Tshwane Ya Tima
“Yesterday, I met with councillor Modise to do a handover report in respect of the group finance department to enable him to fulfil his work as member of the mayoral committee for the portfolio concerned [finance],” said Uys.
“The key to improving service delivery and the rollout of infrastructure in the City of Tshwane is to improve the city’s financial position.
“This requires the continuation of the work as outlined in the mayoral charter on financial rescue, as well as the budget funding plan.”
Uys asserts that the toughest and least popular part of Tshwane’s financial recovery is strict credit control, which includes the Tshwane Ya Tima initiative as well as disconnecting illegal water and electricity connections.
She said credit control needs to be enforced fairly.
The city should focus more efforts where there is a realistic chance of success, which is why the mayoral charter highlights the top 500-1 000 consumers, said Uys.
However, she said that without a widespread culture of paying for services beyond Tshwane’s generous range of free basic services, the city will struggle to achieve financial recovery.
