eThekwini Municipality city manager Musa Mbhele.
Durban — The eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association (ERRA) spokesperson Ish Prahladh has applauded the municipality for “taking the bull by the horns” in respect of service delivery.
Prahladh was reacting to the eThekwini municipality’s Customer Service Week which runs until Friday, under the theme ‘Going Beyond and Above’.
The week seeks to encourage the City’s staff to demonstrate extra courtesy when assisting customers.
As part of the week’s activities, customer service teams helped the public to download the City’s mobile app as well as helping them register on eServices.
Prahladh said: “We have noted some improvements in some areas. We can only pray that all will improve in due course. We support the municipality’s every effort in their attempts to improve the services, in the same vein, we as ratepayers, expect to be fully included in all discussions pertaining to matters affecting our residents.”
eThekwini Manager Musa Mbhele said the City’s management was in a transformative phase and making good progress in turning things around.
Mbhele said the city management was moving from one phase to another, on a daily basis, to tackle service delivery problems in all its departments - with the first being the stabilisation phase.
He said they spent time getting the organisational working structure to be in the right mode and staff in tune.
“People must have confidence in the organisation and buy into the vision. We are applying consequence management across the board without fear or favour. Many employees have been suspended or dismissed for misconduct. We are dealing with companies that are corrupt and doing business with the city,” Mbhele said.
Mbhele said accusations of incompetence and leaking of documentation and distortion of facts are a result of backlash from disgruntled employees whose “cages have been rattled”.
Mbhele said post-stabilisation phase 2 has seen the emergence of positivity. This included the turnaround and transformation of the Cleansing and Solid Waste unit. Mbhele said educating street vendors and the public about littering is a key initiative.
“The city is clean. We are receiving good feedback. We are not there yet but have reached 75 % of our target. The unit is working as a business component. The installation of discipline has ended wild cat strikes. We are also building relations with organised labour so that we can work towards a common goal,” Mbhele said.
He said the parks and recreation unit was also instilling change and improvements.
“If a staff member cuts the grass and finds litter. They should clean up the area even though they might say it’s not their job,” he said.
Mbhele said the municipality was winning the war on irregular expenditure which was a reflection of the turnaround strategy, motivated staff, supply chain management improvements and financial prudence.
Mbhele said there were still challenges that the city was facing in economic development and catalytic projects around plan approvals. Mbhele said business confidence in the city has improved with the re-opening of the Hilton Hotel and the new lease agreement with Southern Sun Hotels on the Durban Beachfront.
Other challenges include the water and sanitation department. Mbhele said he has seen improvements in the staff morale in the water and electricity department including being strict with Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
“There are challenges of vandalism and theft of municipal infrastructure. There is still room for improvement. We know this department is not in the top 5 of the city but we have streamlined the work process so they do not have any bottlenecks that can delay service delivery. Now there is a single point of management a smoother workflow and decentralisation of departments,” he said.
Mbhele acknowledged the role played by Durban Metro Police. He said the 500 new recruits and 178 new vehicles have improved police visibility and reduced crime.
“The business community has notified us that there is an increase in police officers. Police are at the forefront. This is an indication that metro police is turning the corner and tackling crime,” he said.
Mbhele also spoke about inner city rejuvenation with building owners now complying with regulations.
Mbhele said the thorn in the municipality’s side was homelessness. Mbhele said they are working with the private sector, social development and the South African Police Services to address the issue.
“There has been a significant increase in homeless people. Some are homeless while there are some that are criminals involved in crime, stealing and vandalising municipal infrastructure. The tourism ambassadors that were appointed to look after the city were stabbed for confronting these individuals,” Mbhele said.
Mbhele said the municipality plans to remove the homeless people and put them into shelters where they can be given medical care and skills development training. He said those undergoing rehabilitation must not regress into drug addiction.
“We are concerned about the homeless on the beach. It is our daily conversation at meetings. We cannot deal with problems alone. Southern Sun is prepared to spend money on training and development.”
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