Ekurhuleni executive mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza elected to focus his state of the city address (soca) on ramping up service delivery and growing the economy of Gauteng’s manufacturing and industrial hub, saying nearly R2bn had been set aside over the medium-term revenue and expenditure framework (MTREF) for various service delivery initiatives.
The Soca in Germiston on Thursday follows the recent budget speech and the state of the nation address, where President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined sweeping measures to turn around the embattled local government sector.
Xhakaza, an ANC councillor said his administration was addressing challenges pertaining to water and electricity supply, jobs and investments.
He said the metro’s commitment was underpinned by six key strategic pillars pertaining to the provision of quality and sustainable services to all residents from a strong financial base to support the city’s development; conducting essential repairs and maintenance of public facilities; investment on critical infrastructure in partnership with the private sector; economic development growth and job creation and preserving good and ethical governance.
The local government sector is dogged by pervasive malfeasance and systemic corruption resulting in billions being lost to fruitless, wasteful, unauthorised expenditure each year, threatening to roll back gains made in the energy sector and threatening the viability of SA’s water boards.
In his Sona in Cape Town in February, Ramaphosa admitted that in many cities and towns across the country, roads were not maintained and water and electricity supply was often disrupted. Many municipalities lacked the technical skills and resources required to meet people’s needs.
The entrenched issues facing local government have already attracted the attention of Operation Vulindlela, a joint initiative of the Treasury and Ramaphosa’s office set up in 2020 to reinvigorate the economy.
The second phase of the initiative would focus on turning around the local government sector, which has drawn sharp criticism from business leaders and citizens for its failure to roll out basic services such as potable water, electricity, clinics and refuse collection.
Xhakaza, whose address was delayed after EFF councillors brandished placards criticising poor service delivery said the metro held a lekgotla from March 12-14 aimed at “restoring service delivery to the people”.
The lekgotla reviewed progress made in implementing programmes pronounced during the 2024 Soca and assessed the state of service delivery. Last year Xhakaza promised to create 16,000 jobs and implement tight fiscal discipline to turn around the fortunes of a municipality that is not collecting enough revenue and is battling several service delivery challenges.
On Thursday, Xhakaza said: “To date 18,000 people have been employed through the EPEP [Ekurhuleni Public Employment Programme] and EPWP wherein 60% are women and 40% are young people. Our aim is to reach a target of 19,000 work opportunities in the 2025/26 financial year.”
He said R1.8bn would be used over the MTREF for the replacement, upgrades and the extension of water and sewer pipes; implementation of non-revenue programme; and installation of new meters.
“In our efforts to create a water safety and security net, the city has invested about R2bn in water and sanitation infrastructure including the construction of 21 reservoirs, and four towers. In the current financial year, R196m has been available for the completion of eight reservoirs, which are currently at various stages of construction — between 70% and 90%,” Xhakaza said.
“By the end of June 2025, we will commission the Edelweiss Tower in Springs, which will be supplying Daggafontein; the Thembisa Tower to address water challenges in the Ililiba upper lying areas; and the Russel Road reservoir in Germiston with a new Rand Water connection and pipe works.”
The mayor said the city would continue to work towards the reduction of nonrevenue water (leaks in the network), “which currently stands at 29.74% towards 25%”.
“We are happy to announce to the august house that the work of the city on nonrevenue water has been recognised and we have been appointed as Water Champions in this area in Gauteng. We further commit to fast-track the process of replacing aged domestic meters,” he said.
On human settlements, the executive mayor said a total of 283,000 were on the housing waiting list in Ekurhuleni. “These include 131 informal settlements (growth from 119 in 2020/21) with 200,000 households and a total of 80,000 backyard dwellers. We also have 24 hostels in our space.”
On the metro's economic outlook, Xhakaza said the city had facilitated Teraco’s R8bn investment. Teraco’s data centres are intended for various industries, including global internet companies, managed service providers, cloud providers, content providers, enterprises and financial services.
The other investments include “S&J’s R1.64bn — taking us to a total of over R9.64bn. Other major investments include Acsa’s midfield cargo terminal to the tune of R5.7bn; Nigel Steel Mill at R2.5bn, M&T at R2bn and the Gauteng IDZ at R1bn”.
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