The ACDP in eThekwini has a vision of three “Rs”, which is to revive, rebuild and restore the eThekwini Municipality through providing comprehensive and capable leadership that guarantees better public service delivery and leadership as a whole.
As the mayoral candidate, the prioritisation of youth employment and the creation of entrepreneurial hubs in the city centre will be the main goals for reviving and restoring our city. Basic services are the cornerstone of good governance, and it is our focus as ACDP eThekwini to restore confidence in local government.
Jobs is the outcry of our people and the basis of economic recovery!
My first objective is to ensure we tackle the burdensome and slow pace of development in our city, by prioritising programmes that will open up jobs that could lead to the sustainable employment of, especially, the youth and women.
The ACDP believes that it can revive this great region, by focusing on improved service delivery and economic growth.
A priority for our constituency is the billing system, which is a nightmare for the residents of eThekwini. We are prioritising replacing the system to improve accuracy and efficiency in systems. As mayoral candidate, there will be a freeze on all performance bonuses given to management. Our focus on systems and processes to improve efficiency is a consolidated effort to remove the burden of high tariffs on our ratepayers.
The ACDP eThekwini will ensure that tenders and job opportunities will be managed with transparency and due processes followed. Jobs and contracts for the well connected is a norm of the past. Competency, efficiency and transparency will be the culture of eThekwini Municipality under the leadership of the ACDP mayoral candidate.
Informal settlements will be replaced with the development of affordable housing through the provision of community-owned self-help schemes. Furthermore, we will urgently resolve the housing backlogs and ensure more title deeds are distributed. Title deeds give dignity and self-worth to our people, and ensure that they are proudly South African.
The Democratic Liberal Congress DLC will focus on stamping out and exposing corruption, maintaining and developing the current infrastructure and ensuring that our suburbs are neat with consistent grass cutting.
The DLC is a grass-roots party that cares and identifies with the needs, struggles and welfare of civil society. The party subscribes to Batho Pele principles and has always put the needs of the people first, and serves all irrespectively. The past five years have seen the DLC vigorously exposing the flaws in the eThekwini municipal billing system, such as the high estimated charges and incorrect meter readings.
The DLC is set on fighting for equal housing opportunities, quality health care, job creation, consistent grasscutting cycles, police patrols/visibility and will champion for a widows rates rebate. We are always in the forefront of many burning issues affecting our citizens.
When elected, the DLC will continue to engage with constituents to restore transparency and accountability and to promote economic liberalism, gender equality, efficient service delivery and good governance to all.
We will fight without fear or favour against racism, discrimination, corruption and maladministration. We will ensure all officials adhere to Batho Pele principles. We will fight high tariff increases and for primary health-care facilities to operate 24 hours so that ratepayers may have access to clinics at any time. When elected, DLC councillors will be easily accessible and will be held accountable for service delivery.
The party will continue to advocate for a cohesive province that unifies people from all walks of life.
OUR elections slogan says it all: Land and Jobs Manje. That is how we will change the lives of our people. We will give them Land and Jobs Manje, Namhlanje.
When we take over municipalities we will take land and give it to our people for them to use it in whatever way beneficial for them – whether they build houses or start business.
We are going to revive the manufacturing sector and create sustainable jobs for our people. We will abolish all tenders in municipalities and create internal capacity for municipalities to provide services. This will allow us to in-source workers such as cleaners and security guards for them to receive meaningful salaries with all benefits that are received by a municipal worker. We will exempt the poor, mainly Sassa beneficiaries, from paying water and electricity simply because they cannot afford to pay water and electricity.
We will build proper sustainable RDP houses with flushing toilets and enough room for a family to stay in, not these matchbox houses that our people have been subjected to all these years.
We will govern better by hiring competent officials who are qualified to do what they will be hired for. Most municipal officials are hired without even qualifications and they are hired based on their political affiliation. We will also run corrupt-free municipalities and ensure that every cent is used accordingly to deliver services to our people.
BLACK First Land First (BLF) is guided by our 15-point battle plan to fix local government. The battle plan outlines 15 priority points which includes job creation through social development and reconstruction. The infrastructure decay calls for massive reconstruction intervention. Also, it’s BLF policy to hire all graduates.
BLF plans to guide capital, like in China, to invest in national priority areas instead of chasing profits.
Another innovation is a municipal bank to give access to the unbankable. How will you do things differently?
Through listening to the people, no rubber bullets engagement and no evictions.
We will ensure that everyone has a roof over their head. Decent houses with running water. Whenever there are disturbances in the supply of water in some areas, water tanks with clean potable water will be dispatched to those areas.
First preference for employment opportunities will be given to local people. Interviews will be done in a language that is mostly spoken in that specific area.
Our councillors have signed the code of conduct which says anyone who is accused of fraud will be suspended without pay, pending the outcome of an investigation. We will conduct lifestyle audits on our councillors to ensure people we serve do not suffer under corrupt officials.
THE ABC is about industrialisation. We have already stated in our manifesto that in the next five years we are going to create 500 000 jobs in Durban alone by simply reviving our own poultry industry and textile industry, and through the gasification of homes.
With the gasification project, our youth will be employed and be trained as artisans.
Our service delivery will start with a project called Adopt an Engineer.
In this we will be employing semi-retired engineers to pass on their skills to the newly qualified engineers, to sort out the non-delivery mess created by the ruling party.
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