Simba Rushwaya
VEREENIGING – EX- SEDIBENG district mayor, Simon Mofokeng of the African National Congress (ANC) run Emfuleni Local Municipality, says he is trying to clean up the municipality, which has been described by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party, as the most corrupt metro in Gauteng, ahead of the crucial 2016 Municipal Elections on August 3.
The municipality, is under the Sedibeng District, and is situated on the banks of the Vaal River and Vaal Dam in the southernmost part of the province, covering the area formerly known as the Vaal Triangle.
It includes the towns of Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark, Meyerton and Heidelberg, as well as the historic townships of Evaton, Sebokeng, Boipatong, Bophelong, Sharpeville and Ratanda, which have a rich political history and heritage. The municipality is also a stone’s throw from Johannesburg along the scenic Vaal, Klip, and Suikerbos Rivers.
It has a variety of attractions offering a vast cultural heritage and historical experience including, among others, the political breakthroughs that led to the country’s political turnabout. The Sedibeng region boasts several Heritage Sites related to the South African War of 1899-1902 and the two World Wars that followed. The Sharpeville Memorial Precinct stands as a reminder of the Sharpeville Massacre of 21 March 1960, when 69 people lost their lives while protesting the pass laws of the then apartheid South Africa.
Mofokeng (56) has been at the helm of Emfuleni Municipality since last November, is a veteran local administrator, having served as mayor of Sedibeng District in the past. He will fight it out for the mayoral seat against Kingsol Chabalala of the DA.
Gauteng Guardian News Editor Simba Rushwaya, (GG) travelled to the Vaal recently to engage Mofokeng, (ELM) to talk about the municipality, social and economic developments in the area as well as challenges in a candid question and answer interview.
GG: We would like to talk about issues around service delivery since you are the incumbent mayor. What are some of the developments that have taken place in your municipality in addition to challenges that you are facing?
ELM: Thank you very much for affording us an opportunity to talk to your publication. We are humbled by that. Let me start first by addressing social developments that have taken place in Emfuleni. We have expanded our social policies and programmes. In the past we concentrated on economic development, but this time around we have also focused on the youth development. We have built three centres (Sebokeng, Sharpville and for the youth where the youths can go and get information on career guidance, advice on their life and so on. We have also added two other elements namely; the early child development (ECD) centres and recreational facilities for adults where they can also exercise.
A month ago we received sponsorship from Intuba Lotto whereby we are going to build another ECD centre in the municipality.
On the health front, the Sharpville main clinic has been revamped into what I may call a world class clinic, then we have also revamped the Zone three clinic and we have expanded the Tsepiso clinic.
On recreational facilities in the town. We have revamped Eldorado Cinema in Sebokang to an arts and culture centre and we will rename it after the late actor and arts guru Nyembezi Kunene. We have also constructed open parks for different communities that come complete with a gym and other recreational facilities that aid our health. The old Sharpville Hall, which was demolished in 1984, has also been rebuilt working with the district municipality. We are also building a world class sports facility in Rus-Ter-Vaal which has every sporting discipline you can think of. Talk about tennis, football, netball, volleyball, athletics, you name it. The total cost of the project is R150 million.
GG: You have spoken so much about the social aspects of the municipality, what have you done in terms of advancing the town’s economy ?
ELM: Under economic development, we have identified various corridors of development. Our economy here has been dependent on steel, but we have made a deliberate move to invest in retail because of the intense competition that the steel industry is facing in the country because of cheap imports coming from countries such as China.
It is against this background that I’m personally going to engage government on the issue of the importation of steel so that there is a deliberate policy to buy steel coming from this end to sustain our economy while at the at same time expanding it through diversification. We want the local industry to buy our steel.
In the retail industry Makro and Pick n Pay have built us warehouses while the Vaal Mall has been expanded at the cost of R500 million, making us self-sustainable in terms of the retail industry. The developments have created jobs during and after the construction.
We also have the street corridor where are constructing roads and filling potholes that have become problematic in the municipality. We have also set aside R2 billion to build light industrial site along the Johannesburg road in Vereeniging as we expand our economy.
The golden highway corridor has realized the expansion of the Mandela Square, a community shopping centre, the Evaton plaza is now a mall, where private sector injected at least R300 million. We are also trying to arrest money in the locality. In 2005 when we were dependent on steel the money circulating in the town was R12 billion, but now with this diversification we now have around R30 billion in circulation. People have stopped going to Johannesburg to buy from malls there while people from the northern Free State are coming here.
There is also the building of the River City settlement which will be built along the river banks of the Vaal, the first of its kind since apartheid. The first phase will cost at least R11 billion.
GG: There many historical areas in Emfuleni like Baipatong and Sharpville. What are you doing to make sure you take advantage of such places, the same way Vilakazi Street in Joburg is attracting tourists?
ELM: We are going to engage government on how we can best take advantage of these areas so that they can compare very well with Vilakazi Street in Soweto. Heritage will be the main driver of tourism because they say 50 percent of tourism is dependent on heritage history.
GG: What are ANC and your chances of winning the upcoming elections?
ELM: We have been delivering as ANC wherever we are running municipalities and as such here we are going to win at all costs because our records are there for everyone to see. We have been providing quality service delivery as well as improving the lives of our people, particularly the previously marginalized in the townships
Mofokeng, who was born in Free State, is married to Matsie (50) and the couple has three female children Makhorotso (30), Maepeni (28) and Nteboneng (21).
–Guardian
