Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Addressing pressing issues continually frustrating residents, with Municipal Heads from the Newcastle Municipality such as; ageing and damaged infrastructure, poor service delivery and a declining economy—we seek to establish answers and accurate direction for Newcastillians. This is what Municipal Manager, Vish Govender and Laurence Short, the Director of Economic Development have to say.
Govender admits the municipality has accepted there are fundamental issues in town that need to be addressed—including leaking sewage, potholes, grass cutting to mention but a few. For this reason, he states two task teams have been established to start addressing the problems. “Previously, there was no supervision, but we are putting a system into place.” This, he explains, is to ensure there is accountability.
Speaking on the roads’ condition; while the government entity has been focusing on repairs, Govender highlights the municipality can give motorists no timeframes as to when the issues will be resolved. However, he assures, “This will be a repetitive and ongoing project.”
Then there is the concern of sewage flowing down the town’s roads, seeping into residents’ yards, being an ongoing issue for several years.
Govender emphasises that at present, the municipality cannot give a specific timeframe on when the matter will be addressed. This is primarily due to the ageing infrastructure playing a role in the matter.
According to Govender, R1 billion is required to replace the ageing infrastructure and “It will take approximately 30 years to do this.”
Steps are currently being taken to secure the finances. Once acquired, the Newcastle Municipality will confirm completion times. In the interim, Govender reinforces, the municipality is focusing on areas where leaking sewage is problematic.
On Tuesday, 9 February 2021, he visited numerous households regarding raw sewage flowing into residents’ yards. With a team dedicated to resolving the matter, it appears the municipality is focussing on the situation. Govender stresses his first goal as Acting Municipal Manager is to ensure Newcastillians receive the necessary assistance and a stable system.
He further explains that he has also analysed the municipality’s respective departments. “At the moment we have a performance rate of 47.6%. I have called all the necessary departments in, we have established a turnaround plan and are looking at how we can improve.”
With a strategic plan in place, Govender assures the community that the Newcastle Municipality will no longer shy away from the problems at hand.
However, he claims the municipality is facing its fair share of challenges. This not only includes the failing infrastructure of sewage systems but ageing fleet infrastructure. “We have vehicles, such as in waste management, that are over 40 years old.”
This, he explains, is due to previous administrations not investing in newer resources, leaving the current administration to now resolve the matter. With this in mind, he also assures the days of incompetent staff are in the past. “Incompetent staff will no longer be dealt with kids gloves anymore.”
As the municipality looks at addressing service delivery, the decline in economic development cannot be denied over recent months. Yet, according to Short, there is a glimmer of hope. “There is development in economic growth. We are currently dealing with Trade Investment KwaZulu-Natal (TIKZN) who goes out to source investment.”
Apparently, through TIKZN and the Newcastle Municipality, two companies will now be investing in resurrecting companies such as SA Calcium Carbide and Siltech, producing both CO2 and power in Newcastle.
Short says through these projects; there is potential job creation for 2 500 people. Tourism also contributes immensely to local job creation and economic growth. Short points out that there is a 36.6% occupancy rate in terms of local tourism. While this figure is low, Short stresses, “There are two forms of tourism in Newcastle, which is business and leisure tourism. With business tourism, people got used to doing meetings virtually, but as companies start recuperating, we should see some growth in this sector.”
However, regarding leisure tourism, Short highlights that current lockdown restrictions are contributing to the lack of outside people visiting the town. “There is not much we can do about this at the moment. We have had to put all our festivals on hold, due to the restrictions.”
As the leisure tourism sector takes strain, Short is confident that the new investments will boost the business tourism sector in the near future.
With the two officials addressing problems on hand, what are your thoughts?
Share your views with us in the comment section below.
2 Responses
Whilst it is appreciated that promises have been made to resolve all issues within our town, we must remember that many task teams and Strategy workshops have been involved over the years without much success.
Does the municipality not hire vehicles from service providers in certain departments for several years now. Surely this is costly!
Timeframes are good in planning. It keeps focus on the job at hand, and keeps tabs on progress.
Supervision has been lacking for years in all departments. It is encouraging to see that this will change! Hopefully it will not involve extra staff expenses.
Trade and business cannot be expected in Newcastle unless our infrastructure and basic services are improved .
Spending money on festivals is a waste of money. This was proved several years ago which bore no fruits.
The budget provides for all services and should be spent on exactly that without changes during the year.
Agree. We are tired of promises and so called plans and strategies where nothing happens. It is now time for council and COGTA to at last become active in their oversight role and for accountability to be top priority. As a starter, how is it possible that the suppliers of basic services like Uthukela Water do not get paid regularly and on time? Over R50 million outstanding for over 6 months and over R100 million currently in December 2020! Surely this is just one sign of a dysfunctional and financially distressed municipality.