By Palesa Ndinisa
On the 17th of June 2025, Executive Mayor and his council members held an imbizo mayoral meeting at Actonville Community Hall where the mayor allowed the residents of ward 29, 30 and 31 an opportunity to address their concerns and allow the council to give feedback on service delivery progress.
The session was joined by Lushaka Manamela- MMC for Environmental Resources and Waste Management, Kgopelo Hollo who serves as the MMC for Human Settlement, Nomadlozi Nkosi- MMC for Developmental Planning and Real Estate, Sibuyile Ngodwana who is the MMC for Corporate Shared Services and HR as well as MMC Mzayifani Ngwenya, who was the programme director amongst other councillors.
“It is fortunate that we are not alone. We have HOD’s from Head of Energy Department, Head of Community Services, Head of Waste Department, Head of Water, Head of Human Settlements and Head of Roads to answer to everyone’s concerns. One of the things we want to communicate in this Imbizo is that the council of Ekurhuleni has chosen that there must be stability in the era of collision government in the 224 councillors in Ekurhuleni, we want continuity and unity,” added Mayor Xhakaza. The mayor continued to add that the main six issues the council has targeted from last year include quality and sustainable services, ensuring that every household need to have electricity without interruption, unless there are load shedding problems. Water supply should be a priority for all residents, regular waste collection, proper roads need to be built as well as grass cutting and maintaining cemeteries.
Mayor Xhakaza also emphasised that the City needs to partner with private sectors to be able to provide programs such as PPP (Public-private partnerships) to support with human settlement projects. He noted that allocation of tenders will decrease in order to provide employment to people, which will in turn ensure that services are paid for. Additionally, MMC Nomadlozi Nkosi mentioned that the mayoral council has inaugurated a Debt Rehabilitation Program, where residents who cannot afford to pay their debts can go to their nearest Customer Care Centre (CCC) and ask more information about it.
The residents of Mandleni, Harry Gwala, Chief Luthuli, Actonville, and Wattvile expressed their concerns which included hostel maintenance, particularly in Actonville. Kenny Ranyawa, the ward councillor of ward 30 expressed that Wattvile has a level 1 clinic and would like the residents to have a clinic that will operate 7 days a week. “There are home seekers residing under a bridge at Wattvile. There’s a congestion. People from eMlotheni would like to be relocated to their site at Chief Luthuli ext. 2 and they’ll build themselves shelters, if not, please give them access to electricity. The community of Harry Gwala would also like electricity. There is no visibility of SAPS and EMPD in Wattvile and the Tambo community don’t have access to electricity because they’re blocked,” added Ranyawa. One of the residents, expressed frustration that they do not have title deeds. “We have a problem where we seethe same people being hired to do government projects simply because they are ANC members. As backyard dwellers at Chief Luthuli, please don’t overpopulate us by bringing everyone to us, build houses. Also, build us a taxi rank,” expressed Bhekani Ntshangase. Another resident, Mondli Masango residing at Mandleni communicated that they experience crime, wetlands and chemical toilets which according to the municipality, needs to supply five households. Amongst other issues, the residents rose the issue of foreigners owning shops and being in alliance with SAPS.
Executive mayor pointed out that the council has heard the complaints of residents in ward 29, 30 and 31 and pleaded the community to also work with them by abiding to the law. “We’ve noted all the issues. We might not have all the answers right now but we will do what is right. This is a call for action for our people,” added Xhakaza.
