Latest news with #MayoralCommittee
The Citizen
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
Mayor leads ‘bad buildings' inspection in CBD
Members of the Mayoral Committee, led by Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya, recently conducted a 'bad buildings' walkabout in Pretoria Central. The effort formed part of the metro's Reclaim Our City (ROC) initiative, a programme aimed at exhilarating urban renewal and stomping out lawlessness across the metro. The mayor was joined by members of the Mayoral sub-committee, the TMPD and SAPS as well as the Bad Buildings Committee (BBC), a team tasked with identifying and revitalising hijacked, abandoned and derelict buildings in the CBD and surrounding areas. On May 22, Moya led the expedition to various identified spots around Pretoria Central and West, where an utter disregard for the metro's by-laws was on full display. The stakeholders convened on Sophie De Bruyn Street where they visited several spots in the vicinity including illegal scrapyards, make-shift residential premises and non-compliant businesses. 'This is one of those buildings that is owned by the city (Bloed Street), but as you can see, there are shacks inside here. I was here three weeks ago, and then, around 300 people were staying here who were served evacuation notices because it is obviously not safe for people to stay here. As you can see, these used to be shacks and now they've been dismantled, you can see that people have moved out, but there are a couple of them who are still here,' Moya said. 'We are trying to avoid a situation such as the Usindo disaster. We need to prevent it. This is one of the buildings we are targeting. For us, it is the whole block that we want to demolish here and provide this piece of land [for housing]. We do have a housing shortage in our city, and we want to deal with our housing needs and attract businesses to the city,' Moya said. The mayor said there are, however, processes that need to be followed, so the city cannot simply arrive and demand that occupants leave. ALSO READ: Tshwane looks to Expropriation Act to take over derelict buildings She described the tour as a fact-finding exercise, saying that some of the properties where these illegal dealings have been occurring were not known to the city. The mayor said the TMPD, Building Control and partnering stakeholders will decide the course of action to ensure they are not met with the same sight in a few weeks. She insisted that the previous figures the BBC have indicated regarding the identified buildings which need attention have increased after her Pretoria West visit. According to the mayor, the city intends to demolish the entire block to build a housing project similar to the Marabastad Townlands. To address homelessness, the mayor is calling upon NPOs and social organisations to join the party, insisting that the challenge with relocation is that illegal occupants may not want to conform to the rules at shelters. Environment MMC Obakeng Ramabodu said that a main issue he observed was the lack of compliance with city by-laws. 'We have a lot of by-laws that many people are not aware of, some are made known, but there are some that only exist on file, so we need to make sure that we implement them,' Ramabodu said. MMC for Roads and Transport Tlangi Mogale said that among the profiling they completed, illegal occupants consist of both South African and foreign nationals. 'We can confirm that most of the people are foreign nationals, but we do have some South Africans as well. They do form part of the indigent programme of the city, but we don't have a scouting team to find them. However, what we also advise is that they come in and work with our NGOs and NPOs, with which we have partnered and signed MOUs to assist them,' Mogale said. ALSO READ: Tshwane operation finds hijacked building with over 300 shacks Mogale said that there are a lot of buildings that the city wants to capitalise on and the BBC allows them to proceed with their plans. 'For the longest time, we haven't been playing our part as the city to capitalise on these buildings. If you go further west of Pretoria, you'll realise that we've got so many hijacked buildings which are losing us a lot of revenue because we've been sleeping on them,' Mogale said. Spatial Planning MMC Sarah Mabotsa said the demolition plans are necessary as the buildings surveyed are not suitable for human occupation. 'What we're going to do moving [forward] is that we'd like to rezone this building and convert it into low-cost housing. We're trying to address what we call 'Apartheid spatial planning', where people are living far from where they work. If we can rezone this, then people will be able to work and enjoy life here, and this is city property,' Mabotsa said. 'So many people would like to live in the CBD and they can't afford these expensive houses, that's why we've come up with this.' The stakeholders also visit the Tshwane Events Centre or Pretoria Showgrounds for a clean-up operation of this strategic city asset. The mayor said they are working on plans to host a market in the next few weeks as part of the city's economic revitalisation strategy. Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to bennittb@ or phone us on 083 625 4114. For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord's websites: Rekord East For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
What led to the withdrawal of R1 billion fraud charges against Malusi Booi and his co-accused?
The Cape Town Magistrate's Court provisionally withdrew charges related to a staggering R1 billion housing tender fraud case against former City of Cape Town human settlements Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC), Malusi Booi, and nine co-accused. The decision comes alongside the withdrawal of charges against Ralph Stanfield, the alleged leader of the notorious 28s gang, and his wife, Nicole Stanfield. The scandal escalated during Booi's term in office, as accusations emerged that he, along with the Stanfields, had manipulated housing tenders to benefit companies under their influence. The allegations suggested a web of corruption aimed at misappropriating public funds intended for housing development. Meanwhile, the Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, explained that the charges were provisionally withdrawn because there was new evidence which has been discovered. "We took a decision that instead of asking for a postponement, we decided that the charges be provisionally withdrawn until the investigation gets finalised. Once the investigation has been finalised, the charges will be reinstated against the accused," he said.
IOL News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
R1 billion tender fraud charges against Malusi Booi and nine co-accused provisionally withdrawn
The Cape Town Magistrate's Court provisionally withdrew charges related to a staggering R1 billion housing tender fraud case against former City of Cape Town human settlements Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC), Malusi Booi, and nine co-accused. The decision comes alongside the withdrawal of charges against Ralph Stanfield, the alleged leader of the notorious 28s gang, and his wife, Nicole Stanfield. The scandal escalated during Booi's term in office, as accusations emerged that he, along with the Stanfields, had manipulated housing tenders to benefit companies under their influence. The allegations suggested a web of corruption aimed at misappropriating public funds intended for housing development. Meanwhile, the Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, explained that the charges were provisionally withdrawn because there was new evidence which has been discovered. "We took a decision that instead of asking for a postponement, we decided that the charges be provisionally withdrawn until the investigation gets finalised. Once the investigation has been finalised, the charges will be reinstated against the accused," he said.
The Citizen
20-05-2025
- General
- The Citizen
SA firefighters showcase skills in Tzaneen
TZANEEN – Firefighters from across the country gathered in Tzaneen to celebrate the dedication, strength, and skills of first responders during International Firefighters' Day. The event, held at the Mopani Disaster Management Centre in early May, was designed to introduce various aspects of firefighting to the local community, including high-angle rescues, vehicle extrications, and water-based operations. Participants also took part in the National Firefighters Challenge, where they competed in a series of demanding events that tested their skills and physical fitness. Basani Shibambu, the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Community Services in the Mopani District Municipality (MDM), spoke at the event, noting that, in recent years, MDM has experienced no fatalities among its firefighters. However, she emphasised the importance of post-incident trauma counselling for those in the field. 'We want to encourage all first responders to make use of our employee assistance programmes, which offer vital mental health support. The experiences you face on the job can be deeply distressing,' Shibambu said. She referred to the tragic crash earlier this year on the R40 near Hoedspruit, which resulted in 14 deaths. Read more: Hoedspruit R40 crash: One of three survivors dies 'You were the first to respond, and you witnessed the horrific scenes,' she said, urging the firefighters to prioritise post-incident mental health debriefing. Also read: DNA confirms 11 victims in Hoedspruit R40 crash Shibambu commended the firefighters for their quick and effective response. She also expressed her support for the newly formed Tzaneen Emergency Support team, a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing emergency services in the community. 'We want to sincerely thank all those volunteers who dedicate their time and skills to support our communities. Your commitment is invaluable,' Shibambu concluded. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Daily Maverick
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Joburg — a city losing hope, a mayor without a plan
While Joburg's leaders make promises to residents, they are simply not in control of what they are doing. The mayor, the ANC's Dada Morero, has now revealed his obvious desperation and small but important errors show that no one is really in charge. It is common in politics for leaders to try to cover their weaknesses. It is a brutal sport and any sign of weakness can be punished by both your opponents and voters. But sometimes politicians, through their own actions, reveal how weak they really are. Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has now shown that he can no longer properly manage the city and the coalition he governs. Last week, during his State of the City Address, he announced that he would rotate the positions of people on his Mayoral Committee. In other words, someone would be in charge of their portfolio for only six months and then be moved. The sheer lunacy, the political depravity of this moment takes some time to fully comprehend. Read more: They play politics. Joburg pays the price. In the published text of his speech, he gave no reason for doing this. But there can be no rational reason for believing he has a constructive intent; this cannot do anything to improve service delivery. This is why the move is unique. There is a reason no one has done it anywhere before. It is well known that people running departments take some time to come up to speed. To suddenly force people to chop and change every six months is to invite them to do nothing. Morero also says he wants to rotate senior managers from July this year. Again, the prepared text of his speech gives no rational reason for this. This is even more serious than rotating Members of the Mayoral Committee. The job of senior managers is often much more technical and detailed. They need to remain in charge across several complex programmes with many moving parts as they are implemented. To move them around simply for the sake of it achieves nothing. It is an active act of service-delivery sabotage. This suggests that Morero has another motive. He might well believe that some members of his Mayoral Committee will benefit politically from their positions, and thus he wants to weaken them. In other words, he is prepared to sabotage service delivery because of internal ANC politics. He may well argue that corruption in Joburg is so bad that this rotation policy is the only way to stop it. But then he has a duty to stand up and say so, rather than simply making these announcements without any proper explanation. A typical typo Another, smaller incident this week reveals the depths to which the Joburg administration has fallen. During the announcement of the city's proposed budget, it was revealed that documents showed the network fee of R200 a month charged to pre-paid electricity customers would be increased to R270 a month. Considering the outrage when it was first imposed at R200, this is a big increase. EWN reported on Tuesday that officials now say it was a 'typo', that in fact the document was incorrect, and there never was a plan to increase it in this way. Which is easier to believe: that someone could make a mistake of this magnitude, or that officials did want to do this and then realised there would be huge opposition to it? In some ways, it's like the National Treasury blaming the proposed VAT increase on a 'typo'. While Morero may not be directly to blame for this, it is surely the case that his leadership has set a tone for the city. How he behaves as mayor and the fact that he has no grasp on the real situation are allowing incidents like this to happen. From Joburg to Tshwane There are also indications that the political situation in Joburg is about to become more complicated, in ways that could now involve Tshwane. Currently, ActionSA is a part of the coalition in both cities, as part of its move away from the DA. But, the party failed to vote in favour of the city's adjustment budget. News 24 is now reporting that some of the smaller parties in the coalition believe ActionSA is not really part of their coalition. Thus, they want to remove ActionSA Speaker Nobuhle Mthembu. As the DA has lodged no-confidence motions against both Mthembu and Morero, there is now scope for some interesting politics to develop. Smaller parties say they were not consulted on Morero's plans to rotate their MMCs. This would be a moment for them to flex their muscles and essentially show the ANC that they will not accept this plan. This may mean that Morero is suddenly vulnerable in a completely unexpected way. The only reason this is happening is because of his actions – what appears to be entirely his own frolic. This could have implications for Tshwane. If the current coalition involving the ANC, the EFF and ActionSA falls in Joburg, there may be moves to remove the ActionSA mayor in Tshwane. Certainly, the EFF has condemned the actions of Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya, who may have shown that she lacks the gravitas to do the job. Last week, she took part in a photo-op that saw her switching off the power to the Westkoppies Psychiatric Hospital for non-payment. While other councils have switched off power to hospitals, for the mayor herself to do it in this staged way suggests a complete lack of forethought. Given the nature of the institution, it's entirely possible a patient or a worker could have been placed in danger. Imagine if someone had lost their life because of her photo-op? While the coalitions in these metros are slightly different, decisions made in one can still affect the other, meaning there could be a ripple effect from all of this. National implications While this matters immensely to residents who live in Joburg, it could also have a greater impact on our national politics. Currently, it is almost impossible to predict who will take over from President Cyril Ramaphosa as leader of the ANC in 2027. But the results of the local elections are likely to empower some candidates and regions and weaken others within the ANC. If the ANC in Gauteng is seen to do badly, this will weaken its voice going into the 2027 ANC conference. This might well have an impact on Deputy President Paul Mashatile, for example. If the ANC were to fall to, say 20% of the vote in Joburg in the local elections, he might find that his case in the ANC is harder to make. One almost wonders if that is Morero's aim – to ensure the ANC does really badly in the elections. But it is more likely that he is just unable to properly manage the situation. This means that service delivery in Joburg will worsen for the foreseeable future. DM
