On 20 November 2018 the Yearly Public Meeting required by law tp discuss the Integrated Development Plan and Capital Budget for 2019/20 was held by Mangaung.
Differently than previous years, the meeting was well attended by offoicials and top management, has an agenda and gave each attendee from the public a chance to ask questions.
This was the best IDP public meeting that I have attended since the IDP process started around 2005. Clearly the pressure that the DA have been putting on Mangaung in the past years, and especially in the past year has borne fruits. This after the IDP prpcess plan was not complied to last year. Instead of holding the first public meeting in November 2017, it was only held in March 2018. The DA wrote various letters to the City leadership and Provincial National Government to make them aware of the invalidity of the process followed to compile the IDP.
Previous meetings did not discuss details of the budget or spatial development framework, or report on the progress in the past months towards adressing the priorities identified in the previous IDP.
This year was different, and although much improvement is still needed, this can be a good foundation to build future public participation meetings on.
Program:
Presentations
During the meeting, the newly appointed GM: Roads and Stormwater was introduced. This is a positove development, as this post had been empty for more than a year.
Parks:
It was made clear that Park Department simply does not have the funding neccesary to maintain Parks, Sidewalks, Cemetaries and Trees. Therefore the conventional maintenance schedules have been abandoned, and the focus is on main entrances to the city, Adopt a Park projects and complaints. The process of apointing contractors for various tasks like tree pruning, grass cutting and weeding is ongoing.
Planning:
An official started with a presentation highlighting a number of envisaged changes to the SDF, starting off with 6 applications recieved for changes to the SDF by developers to allow their developments. Various members of public interrypted the presentation with questions, thus the presentation never finished as the City Manager and Acting HOD Tilfred Mabuza took over the presentation, and went on to discuss specific planning projects and their progress.
The City Manager, however, indicated that there will be specific public meetings regarding the SDF (Spatial Development Framework) before the next IDP is approved in June 2019.
- Ward 23
- Below is the feedback by Planning on Planning issues identified in the Ward 23 Ward Plan:
Ward 23 issues
Economic and Rural Development: HOD Teboho Maine informed the meeting that none of the wards had, according to him, submitted any proposals related to economic development, and he was glad to know that these wards did not have any unemployment problems. His statement is highly debateable, but that is a debate for another day.
Solid Waste: [Watch]
Here is a video of the presentation by the HOD for Waste and Fleet, Sello More:
Engineering Services: [Watch]
HOD Mlondolozi Ndhlovu’s presentation is below:
Questions by the public: [Watch]
Various members of the public and councillors raised important questions regarding the SDF, IDP, Budget and Service Delivery. Below is just the first few questions:
Centlec
Unfortuneately my phone battery had died by this time, but specific mention was made to the Lighting problems in Jock Meiring Street for Ward 23. Centlec indicated that a project is strating from 1 December to improve the situation, as was requested by the Ward Committee as a IDP Ward 23 Plan priority. This will then be extemded to the rest of Parkwest each year by the Ward Committee.
COMMENTS
Please send any comments on the Capital Budget, IDP and SDF to the IDP Manager, lebohang.pita@mangaung.co.za, and CC ward23@futurefreestate.co.za
Other ward presentations:
The format and tone of the meeting was very encouraging, and I hope that future meetings will only improve on this. It gives residents the chance to directly engage with senior management, and prevent miscommunication of complicated concepts due a long chain of messages conveyed before reaching the correct officials, which easily means they get the wrong message and might implement something completely different than a resident might have requested.
Ward 23 Plan Comments:
The ward 23 Plan was compiled during 2017 by the Ward Committee, and finalosed in March 2018 after a public meeting, online survey of over 60 residents and comprehensive analysis of the ward by the Ward Committee.
All members of the public are invited to comment, ask questions or make suggestions for the Ward Plan, although the main priorities should be reviewed only every 5 years.
This plan is used by officials to adapt the priorities for Ward 23.
The Ward Plan is available here: Google Drive
Councillor Tjaart van der Walt 