A WIDESPREAD assessment of service delivery was conducted during a walkabout led

by eThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda and a team of officials in ward 32 on 17 February. Mayor Kaunda conducted the walkabout in the area to follow up on service delivery issues and other challenges faced by residents. Together with officials from the City's line departments responsible for service delivery, Mayor Kaunda visited the Albert Park area and Clairwood Informal Settlement. During the Albert Park inspection, Mayor Kaunda raised concerns about the state of bad buildings, illegal student accommodation and widespread illegal dumping. A building owner who is in the process of constructing student accommodation in McAuthur Road in the Albert Park vicinity was questioned about safety permits and building rubble left on the pavement and road. Mayor Kaunda and his team also did spot checks on various businesses operating in the area. Speaking on the walkabout Mayor Kaunda said: "We need residents and business owners to adhere to the City's bylaws. Service delivery issues must be followed up on. The City will continue with its education, awareness and enforcement efforts to ensure that eThekwini is a clean, safe and sustainable City that will continue to attract visitors and investors."EThekwini Speaker Weziwe Thusi noted the challenges

“KEEPING YOU IN THE KNOW”

MAYORAL WALKABOUT ASSESSES SERVICE DELIVERY

ETHEKWINIWEEKLY BULLETIN

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By 2030 eThekwini will be Africa’s most caring and liveable City 17 February 2020 [Issue 198]

EThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda, Speaker Weziwe Thusi and iTrump official Thobile Ngcobo visited the Clairwood Informal Settlement during a walkabout of ward 32.

faced by people living in the Clairwood Informal Settlement. She seconded Mayor Kaunda’s call for action to erect water standpipes and proper ablution facilities in the community.Mayor Kaunda also requested City officials to install prepaid electricity units in the location to prevent the theft of electricity and fatalities arising from illegal connections. Hoosen Moola, Senior Manager at the Inner City Regeneration

and Urban Management Programme (iTrump) which falls under the Area Based Management Department, said all complaints and queries raised by residents will be logged. He said iTrump will coordinate immediate action via the proper Municipal line departments. Further commitment was made by the City leadership for a polluted river that runs parallel to the informal settlement to

be cleaned as it poses a serious health and environmental risk. The walkabout was welcomed by the public. Clairwood student and resident at the settlement, Patience Dlamini said she was happy to see Mayor Kaunda engaging with the community and listening to their concerns. She said while there is no quick fix to address crime and unemployment, she was happy that their concerns were being heard.

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2 ETHEKWINI WEEKLY BULLETIN ISSUE 198

ETHEKWINI Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda made a clarion call for caring men in society during the Intergenerational Parliament- Boys to Men gathering at the Pinetown Civic Centre on 13 February.The input and engagement

assembly invited attendees from several men’s forums from different war rooms and aimed to formalise initiatives and responses to societal issues such as gender-based violence (GBV).Following the spate of GBV

cases that have beset the country in recent months, Mayor Kaunda deemed it important to establish men’s forums in each ward to ensure that Operation Sukuma Ndoda Sakhe’ spreads across the City.The engagement themed;

“The caring man in our society” allowed for information sharing, advice and future initiatives that will ensure that men in the City become caring men. The main message of the day emphasised that caring

MAYOR CALLS FOR CARING MEN

SALGA LAUDS ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE

EThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda encouraged all men to play a leading role against gender-based violence during the Intergenerational Parliament.

From left Chairperson of SALGA Councillor Charles Stofile, SALGA President Thembi Nkadimeng and Salga CEO Xolile George during a SALGA media briefing on 12 February.

starts at home. Attendees were educated on the importance of instilling values that will groom their children into becoming adults that can identify right from wrong.In his keynote address,

Mayor Kaunda spoke about the importance of respecting women and characteristics of being a caring man.“Respect begins at home. Let

us instill the saying of ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ and be caring men that raise our

communities in a manner that is respectful and dignified. Do your part in becoming warriors against the scourge of gender-based violence,” said Mayor Kaunda.Director of the International

Centre of Violence at the Durban University of Technology, Crispin Hemson spoke about the underlying factors of GBV.“The three main factors that

overlap each other in GBV are gender culture, socialisation

and trauma. Think about how we speak or think about the other gender, the way we raise our kids or what we expose our children to. We need to open ourselves to hearing from victims and perpetrators as you will find that the perpetrators are also victims causing them to act in that manner,” said Hemson.An annual programme of

action will be rolled out in all Municipal wards with the next session to be held on 14 May.

AS PART of the South African Local Government Association’s (SALGA) ongoing efforts to promote good governance and directly contribute in building municipal institutions, a two-day meeting was held by the SALGA National Executive Committee (NEC) at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre.The meeting aimed to discuss

critical issues affecting local government such as municipal revenue, interventions and court cases against municipalities and the killing of councillors and municipal officials. The SALGA NEC also met with the City leadership to deliberate on the state of the Municipality. SALGA also

launched an application which will provide municipalities with easy access to local governance data. The app consists of four features: incidence reporting, social unrest risk scale, municipal barometer and the SALGA website. SALGA President Thembi Nkadimeng

commended the City on the progress it has made in eliminating problems that are affecting its administration and its ability to collect revenue. “At our last NEC meeting

held in November 2019 we focused largely on debts owed to and by municipalities.

It is evident that there is a clear link between the ability of a municipality to service its debt and the inability of a municipality to collect from government, business and households for services delivered,” she said.Chief Executive Officer of

SALGA Xolile George said there are programmes in place that upskill government leaders and councillors to best perform their duties. He also talked about the app. “SALGA Mobi App aims to provide relevant information, insight and intelligence in order to inform and enhance decision making processes on a range of issues affecting municipalities,” said George.

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ISSUE 198 ETHEKWINI WEEKLY BULLETIN 3

BUSINESS and job opportunities are being unlocked through the City’s Agri-Industrial and Value Add Production project which has seen the construction of three seedling nurseries across eThekwini Municipality. Langabi Elingacishi

Cooperative from uMzinyathi, Inkululeko Youth Cooperative from KwaXimba and Siphikelele Khona Cooperative from Mbumbulu are the first cooperatives to benefit from the project of almost R900 000, spearheaded by the Municipality’s Agri-Business Department.The goal of the nurseries

are to provide small scale farmers with favourable growth conditions, better care of younger plants, efficient use of land and crop uniformity. Business Development

Facilitator from the Agri-Business Department, Nelisiwe Gumede said the need to start the initiative, which is in line with the Radical Agrarian Socio-Economic Transformation, stemmed from seeing a majority of farmers who are in crop production in eThekwini purchasing seedlings from afar. “Active youth projects were

targeted and as part of the

YOUTH AGRIBUSINESSES TO GROW FROM SEEDLING NURSERIES

Members of the Langabi Alicishi Co-operative doing preparatory work ahead of receiving input from the City's Agribusiness Department which includes seeds and compost to be delivered soon.

A NOVEL idea to rehabilitate declared bad buildings in the City was welcomed at an Executive Committee meeting held on 11 February.A report outlining the

wrapping of bad buildings in advertising in order to generate revenue for the building owners to pay their outstanding Municipal bills or to use the funds to rehabilitate the buildings, was tabled at the meeting. The tabled report,

contained in a report from the Economic Development and Planning Committee, stated that authority was being sought for the Development Planning, Environment and Management Unit to consider signage applications for the erection and display of building wraps on declared bad buildings. Building wraps are a

temporary outdoor advertising sign consisting of vinyl mesh or similar material attached to the

outside of a wall of a building.The report states that allowing

for third party advertising on building wraps for declared bad buildings will generate income that will assist in payment towards Municipal services, critical structural improvements, minor remedial works and the general upkeep of the building.The report stated that approval

was being sought as the Outdoor Advertising Bylaw does

not make provisions relating to building wraps nor does it restrict them.The report recommended a

50 percent reduction in the applicable current approved tariffs (2019/20) for building wraps on declared bad buildings, it being noted that thereafter the tariff as approved by Council from time to time will apply.

BUILDING WRAPS PROPOSED FOR BAD BUILDINGS IN CITY

selection criteria they needed to have enough space of two to three hectares and be a registered cooperative because the broader vision is that they not only support themselves by generating income but also the communities around them,” said Gumede.Work on the selected sites

included, site levelling, nursery hole digging, pole planting, cross installation, setting for layout, table crosses, roof poles installation, shade cloth laying, pump station installation and irrigation pipe installations.Containers which will serve as

germination rooms and office space were also provided.Chairperson of Langabi

Elingacishi Cooperative, Philani Magwaza, said the programme has opened doors for them. “The Agri-Business

Department has done remarkable work for us and has exposed us to other opportunities. The MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Nomusa Dube-Ncube visited us and was so impressed with the work being done here such that her department gave us R966

000 to further expand,” said Magwaza. He added that due to the

scale of work being done during planting and harvesting, their co-operative has created job opportunities for unemployed local youth. Gumede said now that

the infrastructure has been set up, the businesses are awaiting input in the form of equipment, seedlings and compost to start planting. She further said the

department is also working on a plan to assist the businesses with access to market.

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GRADUATES IN THE CHEMICAL FIELD EMPOWERED WITH MANAGEMENT SKILLS

IN A bid to develop and strengthen management skills within the chemicals manu-facturing sector, 19 graduates within the field recently com-pleted the inaugural 18-month managerial course.The course is co-funded by

eThekwini Municipality and several industry partners. The graduates successfully

completed the Durban Chem-ical Cluster’s (DCC) Manage-ment Development Programme which was offered online with modules including Globalisa-tion and Economics, Innova-tion, Chemicals Manufacturing and Financial Management.Programme Manager Rave-

sha Govender, who oversees the chemicals sector within the Municipality’s Economic Development Unit said the programme was designed to assist both large and small businesses within the chemi-

PERFORMING in the workplace and using their skills to steer companies forward is what a group of unemployed youth is looking forward to after being capacitated with work readiness skills in a Youth Workplace Readiness Programme. The programme was hosted by the Durban Automotive Cluster between 4 and 11 February.The free training programme,

which was held at the BAT Centre and the Premier Hotel in Pinetown, was aimed at providing a workplace entry solution for unemployed youth who have the necessary skills to be employed within the automotive industry.

It was a triumphant day for 19 graduates who completed the inaugural Durban Chemical Cluster’s Management Development Programme at a graduation ceremony recently.

Unemployed graduates and matriculants were empowered during a Youth Workplace Readiness Programme by the Durban Automotive Cluster to help them be fully productive when they enter the workplace.

cals industry in maximising the use of their staff. “The programme provides

them with skills, training and resources necessary to lead, develop and grow to high-

er-level positions within the company,” said Govender.Due to high costs of de-

livering skills development programmes, the DCC found an innovative way of running the

PROGRAMME PROVIDES WORK READINESS SKILLS TO UNEMPLOYED YOUTH

programme in a cost-effective manner, which was through an online learning platform, she said. “Guidance and men-torship were provided by an external facilitator during the 18-month period.”Dumisani Nkosi, a logistics

controller employed at NCS Resins in New Germany, said the programme was of immense benefit to him as it gave him an overall view of the chemicals industry. “It helped me gain more con-

fidence in introducing different ways of conducting my work and ways to help the company improve our customer service,” said Nkosi.Nkosi, who holds a bache-

lor’s degree in logistics also successfully completed the DCC Graduate Development Programme two years ago.

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EDITORIAL TEAMACTING EDITOR: Mandla Nsele, Acting Head of Communications CONTENT EDITOR: Nondumiso Mathomane • WRITERS: Nonhlanhla Mkhabela, Siphesihle Soni, Charmel Payet, Jessie Singh and Carly Van der Westhuizen. PHOTOGRAPHERS: Pumla Khwela, Mpumelelo Makhaye and Busiswa Chiliza. • DESIGN & LAYOUT: Mandisa Mngadi

Programme Manager for the Automotive Industry Ravesha Govender said the youth were capacitated with the five-step approach used to make workspaces efficient and productive and help companies

improve their competitiveness. “The programme is an

exceptional example of innovation achieved by working with the unemployed youth and industrial theatre to improve operational excellence as

well as capacitate potential employees in the automotive industry,” said Govender.She said it emphasises the

Municipality and the Durban Automotive Cluster’s passion about skills development and assisting youth in work readiness.The groups will be placed in

teams and given an opportunity to assist firms. Nokhuphila Khumalo, who attended the programme said she is excited about the opportunity that the teams will be given to perform within companies.“Even though the programme

was challenging, I found it very exciting as it instilled confidence in me,” said Khumalo.