Municipal bosses at King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) municipality have roped in mining giant Anglo American and the Development Bank of Southern Africa to help turn around its dire financial situation and fix decaying infrastructure.
The three organisations yesterday announced a collaborative project to improve the fortunes of one of the province’s most financially unstable municipalities.
Anglo American has made available R8.9-million as part of its social investment programme with the DBSA acting as implementing agent.
Five private companies have reportedly been contracted to work with the municipality on several key focus areas including revenue enhancement; replacement of faulty and malfunctioning electricity meters; upgrading and fixing roads and electricity supply; and addressing traffic congestion.
Announcing the project, KSD mayor Nonkoliso Ngqongwa said they were excited at the prospect of working with Anglo and DBSA and the impact it would have on the more than half-a-million residents of KSD.
The project comes on the back of a 2009 R5-billion Presidential Intervention Project to help resuscitate ailing infrastructure in and around Mthatha.
While Ngqongwa expressed happiness yesterday with the impact of the presidential project, she admitted that infrastructure development – particularly roads and electricity – remained pressing challenges.
“It is going well. the reality is that this intervention came at a right time. This is going to create opportunities for investments,” she added.
The partnership with DBSA and the mining giant would also help to sort out revenue collection issues.
Geralda Wildschutt from Anglo American said the company was working with as many as 10 struggling municipalities in communities where they had mining interests.
KSD was chosen because it was regarded as a massive labour providing area, especially for the platinum mines. “We owe a lot as a company to this area. Bringing in social investments to KSD is our way ploughing something back.”
DBSA project manager Xoliswa Thobela said the partnership with KSD would run until 2016.
“We will be able to assess the success of the first leg of the programme then.”
But ratepayers and business in Mthatha said they doubted the partnership would yield positive results. Norwood resident Nceba Sophazi said skilled people would be needed to monitor projects and speed up service delivery, while Waterfall resident Zizo Magqaza said local infrastructure had gone from bad to worse.
OR Tambo District Chamber of Business president Vuyisile Ntlabati was also skeptical, saying a lack of capacity was the biggest challenge facing the local authority.
“It’s not a question of money but a lack of capacity. Our infrastructure in KSD is very bad and deteriorating.
“What we need is a total overhaul of the whole infrastructure,” he said. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
Anglo American to help fix KSD’s woes
The three organisations yesterday announced a collaborative project to improve the fortunes of one of the province’s most financially unstable municipalities.
Anglo American has made available R8.9-million as part of its social investment programme with the DBSA acting as implementing agent.
Five private companies have reportedly been contracted to work with the municipality on several key focus areas including revenue enhancement; replacement of faulty and malfunctioning electricity meters; upgrading and fixing roads and electricity supply; and addressing traffic congestion.
Announcing the project, KSD mayor Nonkoliso Ngqongwa said they were excited at the prospect of working with Anglo and DBSA and the impact it would have on the more than half-a-million residents of KSD.
The project comes on the back of a 2009 R5-billion Presidential Intervention Project to help resuscitate ailing infrastructure in and around Mthatha.
While Ngqongwa expressed happiness yesterday with the impact of the presidential project, she admitted that infrastructure development – particularly roads and electricity – remained pressing challenges.
“It is going well. the reality is that this intervention came at a right time. This is going to create opportunities for investments,” she added.
The partnership with DBSA and the mining giant would also help to sort out revenue collection issues.
Geralda Wildschutt from Anglo American said the company was working with as many as 10 struggling municipalities in communities where they had mining interests.
KSD was chosen because it was regarded as a massive labour providing area, especially for the platinum mines. “We owe a lot as a company to this area. Bringing in social investments to KSD is our way ploughing something back.”
DBSA project manager Xoliswa Thobela said the partnership with KSD would run until 2016.
“We will be able to assess the success of the first leg of the programme then.”
But ratepayers and business in Mthatha said they doubted the partnership would yield positive results. Norwood resident Nceba Sophazi said skilled people would be needed to monitor projects and speed up service delivery, while Waterfall resident Zizo Magqaza said local infrastructure had gone from bad to worse.
OR Tambo District Chamber of Business president Vuyisile Ntlabati was also skeptical, saying a lack of capacity was the biggest challenge facing the local authority.
“It’s not a question of money but a lack of capacity. Our infrastructure in KSD is very bad and deteriorating.
“What we need is a total overhaul of the whole infrastructure,” he said. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
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