One million to be allocated to each ward
It is now official - each ward in Ekurhuleni will receive R1-million through a R101-m project that has recently been launched by Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele.
Last year, the announcement was made that wards will be allocated such funds, which has prompted ward committees to already start identifying projects.
According to municipality, the project called the Lungile Mstshali Community Development Project is the first of its kind, and will see each ward in the city awarded an opportunity for its community to spend the money on developmental projects of their choice.
Speaking during the event, Gungubele said the time had come for communities to get actively involved in the development of their communities.
“The Lungile Mtshali Community Development Project is a ward-based project aimed at creating jobs and fighting poverty in the region.
“It can also be viewed as the city’s intervention to build an active and responsive citizenry in our efforts to fast-track service delivery in the region” said Gungubele.
Gungubele added that such projects are pivotal for a municipality, which has an unemployment rate of 28.8 per cent to 40 per cent of young people.
He clarified that the R101-m is not the entire budget for community and infrastructure development in the city and that the metro will continue delivering and broadening services to communities with its annual budget of R30-bn.
“Some people may think that the amount is not enough, but for us it is not about the money but rather the intervention of building active and responsive citizenry that will be able to deal with developmental issues in their areas ,while at the same time, addressing the scourge of poverty.
“This project allows our people to get directly involved in the upkeep of their areas and learn critical skills that will take them off the streets in the future,” Gungubele further explained.
He went on to add that the city will continue allocating the R1-m per ward for the next three financial years starting in 2014.
According to Gungubele, qualifying projects are intended to serve as a catalyst for skills growth, poverty alleviation, job creation and urban renewal.
“I remain confident that plenty of jobs will be created by this project,” he said.
Lungile Mtshali is a former councillor of Ekurhuleni who passed on after a short illness in 2010.
At the time of her passing she was a member of the mayoral committee for finance.
She was known to be a servant of the people who was always at the forefront of the community’s needs.
Just before she passed, Mtshali had initiated a community development project known as the R1-m per ward to alleviate poverty in the city.
The project was later officially named by the Ekurhuleni as the Lungile Mtshali Developmental Project in her honour.
