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I am appalled that R659 million worth of publicly funded infrastructure projects in the City of Ekurhuleni remain unopened for years, despite many being completed over 4 years ago.

Some were completed as far back as 2018 and still remain unopened.

More shockingly, many of these community facilities are unopened and unusable just because the City of Ekurhuleni has not connected them to municipal services.

I cannot accept that almost R200,000 is being spent every month just to put guards at the facilities to stop hijacking, vandalism and stripping of parts.

Instead of these facilities being open, to deliver services, they are costing over a million rands a year just to guard empty buildings.

Jacob Mamabolo, MEC for Infrastructure Development and COGTA in Gauteng, confirmed this in response to my question in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

This is an extraordinary revelation at a time when residents across Ekurhuleni are crying out for functioning services and infrastructure. To protect the people of Ekurhuleni from this, I will escalate this matter to the Public Protector to take decisive action.

The multiple unopened facilities in Ekurhuleni include the R123.64 million Selcourt Reservoir, R108.73 million Reiger Park Enterprise Hub and Ramaphosa Vocational Skills Centre, the Vosloorus Multi-Purpose Centre, Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD), a number of other reservoirs, and recreational centres.

Every unopened facility represents a service that residents were promised but cannot use.

An unopened ECD centre means children and families cannot benefit from a facility built for them.

An unopened enterprise and skills hub means spaces intended to support businesses, manufacturing, training and economic activity are not delivering those benefits.

Residents have already paid for these projects through public funds, but residents should not then be robbed of the services and opportunities those projects were supposed to provide because the City is incapable of opening them.

The explanations provided for some of the unopened facilities raise serious questions. The Vosloorus Multi-Purpose Centre has faced a water-connection problem. Bakerton Stadium has a burned pitch or field. The Reiger Park Enterprise Hub is closed because external road and access infrastructure still needs to be completed, so it cannot get an occupancy certificate.

This is exactly what happens when ANC corruption trumps service delivery. The ANC focuses on spending money without ensuring that projects actually translate into services for residents. A completed building, shiny and new, means nothing if a resident cannot use it.

There is hope for change in Ekurhuleni: Under a DA-led government, after this Election, getting Ekurhuleni working for all will mean ensuring that infrastructure projects are not simply announced, built and forgotten. Projects will instead be completed properly, opened and put to work for the communities that paid for them.

Issued by DA Mayoral Candidate for Ekurhuleni Khathutshelo Rasilingwane