uMngeni

As of 22 November 2022, the DA has been in government in The uMngeni Municipality for 1 year. In the short space of time that we have been in government we have already achieved a lot. There is still a mountain to climb in overcoming the deficiencies inherited from the previous administration, but we will succeed.

The uMngeni Municipality has a R538 million budget with about 250 permanent employees and about 500 temporary employees.

The municipality has R1.2 billion worth of assets. The area of jurisdiction stretches from Nottingham Road to Worldsview and from the Karkloof to KwaDulela along the Underberg Road (1550 square kilometers).

It is inevitable that turning such a big ship around will take some time. Change will not be seen daily but over a period of time.

Some of the major challenges that we must overcome in the next 4 years include:

  • Reduce over R240 million owed in property taxes to the municipality
  • Reduce the huge electricity theft problem. This is costing us tens of millions of Rands every year
  • Strengthen internal control and consequence management mechanisms
  • Restore internal process, policies and procedures
  • Building capacity amongst our staff: skills, quality and quality

What we have achieved in 12 months

Waste and Environment

We have been putting mechanisms in place to improve waste collection and reduce our impact on the environment. To build capacity in our waste department we have already received delivery of 1 new refuse collection truck valued at R2.1 million and a new TLB worth R1.6 million. These vehicles have significantly improved our capacity. We are planning on purchasing 3 more refuse trucks, a landfill site compactor, a bulldozer and a tippertruck. In addition to these new additions we have recently employed 60 people for a 6 month period in order to

address the litter and illegal dumping issues. Our NPO partners have received 25 temporary workers for cleanup and gardening purposes

Law and Order

Restoring law and order is one of our top priorities. Without law and order there is no foundation of society. To build capacity we are in the process of completing a municipal vehicle pound. It will double up as the official offices and base for uMngeni Traffic. In the next two months we will be signing an MOU with a community based oragnisation who can assist with more CCTV and LNPR cameras. We will start at Howick Falls and expand the network from there. 3 more traffic wardens have been sent to college to be trained as traffic officers. Other initiatives include extensive street light repairs and the expansion of our contracted security services.

Transparent Government

A cornerstone of good governance is our goal to be a transparent, responsive and caring government. Since taking government we have begun to publish as much as possible on our municipal website in order to allow the public to scrutinize everything. We will continue to add more and ensure that residents have access to everything that we do. Another success story is the randomized selection process for temporary employment opportunities. Employment opportunities are no longer given to the politically connected but are provided in a transparent and fair manner. Please remember that all council meetings are open to the public.

Jobs and Economic growth

Since November 2021 the new DA led administration has created over 230 employment opportunities within the municipality. In addition to this we have added 16 new permanent staff members. Creating jobs in the face of Eskom blackouts and ANC national policy confusion has proven difficult. However, in order to speed up investment, the DA led uMngeni Municipality has introduced an Economic Incentive Policy. This policy provides a number of incentives for certain types and sizes of development into the region. The municipality has also started a Catalytic Projects programme which aims to fast track developments over a certain size. In September 2022 we began the public consultations around the Howick Falls redevelopment.

Infrastructure

Decades of under maintenance and investment have left us with many infrastructure challenges. Unfortunately this is also the most expensive part of our recovery plans with the price of crude oil, bitumen and raw materials adding to skyrocketing road repair costs. Since taking government our first priority was to allocate R4 million towards urgent repairs stabilizing high volume roads A number of pothole repairs and storm water clearing was undertaken. This year the roads maintenance budget increased from R11 million to R21 million with extensive repairs underway. We have also budgeted R24 million for equipment that will assist both our roads and waste department. R4 million have been budgeted to retrofit LED street lights.

Where we Govern

uMngeni Newsroom

uMngeni Municipality to set up recycling programme to reduce amount of waste going to the landfill

07 Nov 2022 in Where We Govern

DA-run uMngeni debt free less than a year into governance

20 Oct 2022 in Where We Govern

The budget to restore the faith in uMngeni Municipality

31 May 2022 in Where We Govern

Electricity loss reduction

29 Apr 2022 in Where We Govern

uMngeni Success Stories

uMngeni Municipality is now debt free.

After only 11 months of DA governance, a R10.4 million loan was paid off which will save rate pavers R450 000 in interest this year.

Under the previous ANC government in uMngeni, only 133 households were receiving free basic services.

Under the current DA government 3 005 households are receiving free basic services.

uMngeni Municipality recently employed 60 new municipal workers to help keep communities clean. To keep the lights on, ongoing streetlight maintenance continues.

Where we govern, we are giving residents their power back by getting the basics right!

Meet the Mayor & Mayoral Commitee

Chris Pappas

Executive Mayor

Chris Pappas, who is fluent in both isiZulu and English, is one of South Africa’s youngest mayors and was the DA’s deputy provincial leader in KwaZulu-Natal before being elected as mayor in uMngeni. He started his political career as a member and later president of the student representative council at the University of Pretoria where