Mayor celebrates first 100 days in office
2011-09-01
Lise Beyers
ONE hundred days after taking over the reins as Executive Mayor of Drakenstein Municipality, Gesie van Deventer is loving the fact that she can serve the community. It is not all easy going though, as early in her term she had to deal with the annual municipal workers’ strike, as well as the recent temporary suspension of two senior municipal officials. And she is working seven days a week and barely getting four hours of sleep a night. “But things are going well and starting to fall into place,” says the Mayor. “I am constantly in touch with role-players throughout the entire community, such as youth groups, cultural organisations and the business sector, to get an overview of what is going on in our community. This is our mandate: to serve the community.” Even though she has been in office now for barely 100 days, she has already implemented some sound decisions and is ensuring that good governance is put into place. One of these was to refuse a Nersa recommendation that electricity rates be further increased. The Council unanimously decided against this recommendation. Further support of grants and discounts on services have been offered to disadvantaged residents who are suffering under the adverse impact of rising costs and lack of sustainable job creation. The speedy rezoning of a property in Pentz Street in Wellington for the construction of the new police station is a priority, as well as speeding up the appraisal of building plans in general. Creation of employment opportunities, especially in the tourism industry, is an important issue for the Mayor, as well as dealing constructively with the needs of homeless people. Upgrading projects for public open spaces, such as playgrounds and the arboretum in Paarl, will be implemented to promote accessibility, utilisation and safety. And tax payers’ money will no longer be wasted on meals and refreshments, says the Mayor and there will be a drastic curtailment of unnecessary expenses for meetings and conferences. Other issues that are being dealt with, with utmost speed, is construction of more speed bumps to promote road safety and the upgrading of the municipal pound so that stray animals can be held there. A special fund has been created where savings and external donations can be held, to ensure faster action without red tape. Important matters currently enjoying intensive investigation and planning include an all encompassing housing plan taking into account the needs of all interest groups and job creation, especially in the tourism industry. For this purpose, funding will be re-allocated to the tourism sector.
“We are working on the improvement of systems to speed up the approval of building plans. “The unacceptable delays in the handling of the interests of residents who own property on river banks in residential areas ,will also be addressed. “We also plan to execute certain savings on expenditure so as to decrease the pressure to increase tariffs and increase public participation in planning for the future. “Be assured that my team and I are 100% committed to ensure that the Drakenstein local government purposefully makes progress on delivering the Drakenstein dream, a better future for all our people.”
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