By ANELE MJEKULA
Makana’s Municipality recently-purchased ‘cherry picker’ will help resolve recurring power outages in the city.
This was the message from Municipal Manager Moppo Mene at a short ceremony in front of the City Hall on Thursday.
Mene said the municipality was in the process of reinforcing its fleet to enable essential services employees to respond timeously to call-outs.
Mene said the Council felt it was important that the municipality had the necessary equipment to deliver services to the community. “There was an auction that Council sanctioned, and out of that auction, we received a substantial amount of money which Council decided to use to purchase vehicles,” he said.
He pleaded with employees to take good care of the vehicle to ensure that “we get value for money spent”.
Engineering and Infrastructural Department Director Asanda Gidana said the cherry picker would enable workers to reach high mast lights they ordinarily wouldn’t be able to reach. “I cannot overemphasise the importance of the expectation to the team of taking the utmost care of this vehicle. While we are doing our best to buy new vehicles, it’s like a drop in the ocean because our old vehicles are overused.”
Engineering and Infrastructural Services Portfolio Chairperson Cllr Ramie Xonxa said the decision to conduct the public handovers in front of the City Hall was intentional. “We always stand proudly in front of the City Hall when these tools are being handed over to our officials. We do this solely because we believe in transparency so that the communities and taxpayers can see the good work that the municipality is doing.”
Making the closing remarks, Executive Mayor Cllr Mzukisi Mpahlwa thanked the officials of the electricity department. “You can already see the difference. If you go to Jacob Zuma Drive, you will see that the lights are now working,” he said.
The Mayor said vandalism was a big challenge in the town. “I have just been shown a street light that was vandalised this morning. Vandalism is a big challenge, but we are not going to give up – we will keep fixing the street lights.”
He pointed out that the CBD is very dark, and priority must be given when street lights are being fixed.
Anele Mjekula works for the Makana Municipality Communications Office.
