Speaker, fellow councillors and residents of Ekurhuleni,

I am humbled by the faith and trust placed in me as the Mayor of our great city, Ekurhuleni. It is my privilege to serve the people of Ekurhuleni as the Mayor of our city.

The challenges in our city are great and it will take a team effort to overcome. Therefore I would like to invite all parties in this chamber today to take hands with us so that we can build an exceptional city that our residents will be proud to live and work in and for those outside wanting to move and settle their businesses here.

This is the change our residents have been waiting for. Now is not the time for more promises, now is the time for us to get things done.

For far too long our people have been living in conditions that are substandard in Ekurhuleni.

Our residents have been living in a metro where service delivery is nearly non-existent.

Where millions of Rands have been spent on housing projects, business centres and substations and yet there is nothing to show for it.

This ends today.

Today we start the process of giving our people their dignity back. We start the process of ensuring that every tender that is issued is done so in a transparent and fair manner, and that value for money is ensured at all times.

We know that over the last week, the entire country has been plagued by load shedding, but in Ekurhuleni nearly every day residents are subjected to countless power outages, costing businesses money and our residents their hard-earned money that ends up in the bin because it has gone rotten.

Mr Speaker,

No more. We will immediately start the process of fixing the electricity problems that seem to endlessly plague our Metro.

Not having enough supplies in the store to replace simple electricity infrastructure must end so that we can fix power outages quicker.

No longer will we be living in filth – as pointed out by the Public Protector due to waste not being collected on a regular basis. This is a direct violation of our human rights and it ends now.

Access to dignified housing is another right enshrined in our Constitution. We cannot have Mega Housing projects that only exist on paper but not in foundations.

It is clear that our people cannot be subjected to this slow pace or non-existence pace of service delivery any longer.

Honourable Councillors, Mr Speaker,

Service delivery to all residents in our Metro can only be delivered if we are out there interacting with our people daily.

My job and your job is to get things done and that cannot be done from sitting in an office. Our people want to see action and they want to see action from us.

Soon I will announce a Mayoral Committee team that will help steer and ensure fast and effective service delivery to the residents of Ekurhuleni.

I urge you to remember that it is our residents that have elected us to represent them in this municipal council. We need to speak and advocate on their behalf.

Let’s take hands and work together. Let’s get out there and get things done!

Thank you very much.