General News

Extension of The Objection Period

Residents are hereby advised that the Rustenburg Local Municipality has extended the objection period in respect to the valuation roll to 15th June 2021. This is to allow residents who will receive their section 49 letters late an opportunity to lodge objections if they have any.

Residents are also reminded that should property owners who would not have received the section 49 letters (letter informing residents about their property valuation) by 30th April 2021, are encouraged to contact the municipality to obtain a copy.

Copies can be obtained through one of the following methods:

Visit the following office:

Municipal main building (Missionary Mpheni House)
Corner Dr Beyers Naude and Nelson Mandela Drive
1st floor office 127

Send requests by email to the following details:

Thabiso Mkhwanazi – tmkhwanazi@rustenburg.gov.za
Busisiwe Faku – bfaku@rustenburg.gov.za
Masechaba Motene – objections@rustenburg.gov.za

Alternatively call 014 590 3283/3113/3163/3476 during office hours Monday to Friday from 07:30 am to 4:00 pm.

End

On August 6^th 2019 Rustenburg Mayor Councillor Mpho Khunou and property mogul Mr. Roux Shabangu of JB Holdings, in the presence of other co-investing property development companies -Twin City and Moolman Group presided over a sod-turning ceremony in an open veld outside the City Centre. The intimate ceremony marked the beginning of a journey of what was to was bring life to Rustenburg’s local economy falling the downward trajectory of the City’s economy following the Marikana massacre. The aftershocks of the violent clashes spilled over into various sectors of the economy which led to job cuts in the mining sector in the region of 10 000. Subsequently many players in the private sector, disinvested in Rustenburg fearing a contracting economic base.

Over a year and half later, Rustenburg’s first resident expressed how proud he was of what the Council he has been at the helm of had achieved, in-line with the City’s long term strategy of transforming Rustenburg. He said many of the City’s detractors were convinced that the Rustenburg Mall, would never be a reality “I am proud of the work we have done as a Council, the road has been very long as this vision started in the early 2000’s. We had endless obstacles, it did not look like we will achieve this, but the belief of the private sector into our vision, has birthed this beautiful facility. We have no doubt of the relationship we have formed and look forward to growing Rustenburg with you” Mayor Khunou said. Council had embarked on a spatial land management use strategy as part of creating an integrated and interdependent service offering to communities in 2003, when the Executive Mayor was then Rustenburg’s Municipal Manager. The process which was tedious, which included in interested parties presenting before the City Council on how the portion of land would be used, to achieve the City’s strategies of spatial planning while promoting economic growth. Further, the proposal for the use of the land had to be subjected to public participation where the community had to make inputs and representations, if a project of this magnitude should proceed. The City says, it important for the community and the private sector to continue in jointly working together to ensure that socio-economic challenges which are currently prevalent are mitigated, primarily through investment and creation of direct and indirect jobs, which lead to the economy of Rustenburg.

Despite the challenges which were prevalent between the City and the property developers over the use of local content, over 80 percent of the work force including subcontracting opportunities were afforded the community of Rustenburg. Shabangu, CEO of JB Holdings said, despite the initial teething problems he is delighted that the development gave the people of Rustenburg an opportunity to become participants in the project “we are grateful that we were able to create jobs within the community in which we are situated and also afford the local SMME’s a chance to gain more experience” Shabangu emphasized. The facility which will open its doors officially tomorrow for trading features 120 stores, and the size of 8 soccer fields and was constructed at a cost of over 600 hundred million.

The Mayor also thanked the Member of the Mayoral Committee on Local Economic Development – Councillor Ofentse Kombe, Council’s Single Whip – Councillor Levy Mokwele as well as Councillors Latelang Nkgoang, Johan Cronje and Gert Du Plessis who are in charge of the hosting wards in the jurisdiction of the mall project. They had been participants in the established steering committee which was intended to safe guard the interest of the community while ensuring creation of opportunities for local empowerment. In attendance at the official launch was the Acting Municipal Manager Mr. Edward Komane and Council Speaker Councillor Sheila Mabale-Huma.

The event was also graced by dignitaries such as Prince Zulu of the Zulu Royal House in Kwa Zulu Natal and leader of the IPHC His Grace TS Modise.

End.

The Rustenburg Local Municipality, continues to ensure that services are rendered to residents in cost-effective and efficient manner, as outlined in the strategic priority which focuses on sound financial management while promoting good governance principles. The economic down-turn which has led to a technical-recession has not spared the residents from the consequences of a tougher economic times. Most of whom, have lost their primary sources of income. The impact of the national lockdown cannot be ignored, as many businesses could not operate at their full capacity, and others could not survive beyond lockdown, thus having to lay off employees. The financial position of the municipality made it impossible to offer any form of relief to the ratepayers, and the debtors’ book continued to grow.

The Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 requires that the municipality have effective revenue collection systems as consistent with section 95 of the Municipal Systems Act and the municipality’s Debt Collection and Credit Control Policy.  Subsequently, the City Council resolved in line with item 62 of the 30^th March 2021 meeting that the Municipality may, in order to encourage prompt payment by customers and/or to reward regular payments made by customers or payments made by any of the existing means to pay any outstanding balance through an arrangement for the purpose of paying off of debt in instalments which are available in law, including those provisions in section 103 of the Systems Act, and section 71 of National Credit Act – NCA.

Council after taking into account, the effects of a contracting economy and its consequences on households, resolved to extend the debt collection incentives scheme by 6 months commencing 30th March 2021. The incentives program offers clients the opportunity to have their arrangements calculated in line with the Credit Control and Debt Collection policy with interest removed from the calculation and written off when clients have kept to the arrangement.

For more information, residents can contact the following persons:

bmaubane@rustenburg.gov.za or 014 590 3420 gphalane@rustenburg.gov.za or 014 590 3595 kmoetapele@rustenburg.gov.za 014 590 3426 or at offices 22 – 28^th ground floor Missionary Mpheni House.

End.

Following, the many unannounced visits to various areas of Rustenburg, earlier today the Executive Mayor of Rustenburg – Councillor Mpho Khunou accompanied by the City’s head of administration Mr. Victor Makona made an unannounced visit to see the effectiveness of service delivery as well as to see first-hand the challenges that communities are faced with, where delivery is inconsistent. This visit comes as part of an-going program led by the Mayor of Rustenburg to carry out-oversight exercise where communities have had challenges with the inefficiency of services.

The inspections began with a meeting where ward Councillors of Tlhabane and Tlhabane West were present, including the Council’s Single Whip – Councillor Levy Mokwele and Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Technical Infrastructure Services – Councillor Michael Mhlungu. The purpose of the meeting, was to provide an update to the ward councillors, on the work which has been done in the area in resolving the bulk services particularly water and sanitation related challenges. Later the inspections were carried out in Zinniaville.

In the recent past, the Mayor has been to various areas within the City Centre, Tlhabane, Boitekong and Tlhabane West to establish what challenges could be as a result of the inefficiencies prohibiting residents to access maximised services at all times. Mayor Khunou said it was important that the Municipality in its approach to addressing service delivery issues needed to be proactive “there is no wisdom, whatsoever for us to come to our residents when there are service delivery protests when we can just come and conduct our oversight at any time” Mayor Khunou said emphatically.

Mayor Khunou has been leading service delivery inspections along many areas of Rustenburg with officials in tow, to ensure that there is accountability and remedial action where RLM officials are found wanting at the expense of residents. He said the days of complacency and lack of consequence management are long gone “we will not have to wait for residents to complain about inconsistent service delivery so that we can act, furthermore we will be on an on-going basis receiving reports from directorates responsible critical for services and where there are continuous concerns with the situation not changing, we will have to act and take those responsible to task. We cannot compromise service delivery while our people continue to be inconvenienced” reiterated Mayor Khunou.

In the recently tabled adjusted budget of the City, the RLM prioritized the bulk infrastructure services of the City, which have not been sufficiently dealt with due to both infrastructural and financial limitations. The allocations in terms of the various areas of urgent intervention in service delivery have been approved as follows, to fast-track service delivery while addressing existing backlogs.

• Roads and Storm Water Maintenance – R12.6 million
• Electrical Unit – R10 million
• Water and Sanitation – R5 million

Mr. Victor Makona the City’s Accounting Officer said, it was important that the recently allocated budget for services is used to fast-track services without any compromise “we will be doing routine checks to see if public funds are used to the benefit of the community, it is our responsibility to ensure that work is done and that the community feels the impact in material terms, if we are to achieve our mandate of improving the speed with which services are rendered” he said.

End.

As a regular engagement between the City’s top leadership and senior managers responsible for the provision of varied services to the communities of Rustenburg, Councillor Mpho Khunou and Mr. Victor Makona as well as the members of the Mayoral Committee on Technical and Infrastructure Services, Roads and Transport and Budget and Treasury Office – Councillors Michael Mhlungu, Lucky Kgaladi, and Basebi Lekoro were locked in a performance review meeting regarding service delivery in Rustenburg. Given the challenges which the City noted in the recent budget presentation, the Mayor called for an intensified approach to service delivery as residents needed to be serviced effectively despite the many challenges which have been highlighted.

In his opening remarks, Mayor Khunou said it was important to be relentless in the provision of services as residents have been inconvenienced enough “the budget which we have augmented at the recently tabled Council meeting, shows that we may not be perfect but we are turning things around. The only way this City can work is when residents’ challenges are resolved and the infrastructure Rustenburg has is maintained to promote effective delivery of services, without addressing this core mandate we would be failing at the basic reason why we are all here” Mayor Khunou emphasized.

The RLM has prioritized all issues around water-related issues, which have been highlighted previously. Following the additional funding from the adjusted budget which is people-centered and service delivery oriented the City has commenced with numerous interventions in resolving water reticulation within Rustenburg’s water network.  This includes the upgrading of Tlhabane West Pump station and about 80 percent of the pipe bulk line has been laid. This project will ensure that the RLM’s infrastructure pumps more water within its network which will ensure that high-lying areas which have been severely affected by water supply interruptions experience low incidents of water cuts.

The City’s Community Development Directorate has continued to express concern about the growing number of illegal dumping spots which the City has been regularly clearing. The Directorate has been hard also, clearing most of the public spaces within the City’s jurisdiction which pose a safety concern to residents. To this extent, illegal dumping areas, which experienced an increased occurrence of illegal disposal of refuse/waste have been cleared.

Ramochana’s main entrance and the taxi rank area are some of the areas which had the ire of the community and the directorate responded swiftly in ensuring that the open spaces are cleared thus preventing any health-related hazards to residents.  These by-law contraventions of waste management – illegal dumping have also been in the City centre and this is concerning as most of our SMME’s make use of the allocated public spaces for trading and these incidents have the potential to affect their income and or profitability as a result of the health complications that may arise.

In ward 34 at Bokamoso, the team cleared the illegal dumping area, which has been at the entrance of the settlement and some cleaning of the public spaces in Tlhabane around the JD Mosia Primary School has also been successfully completed. The recent wave of torrential rains has also made the RLM intensify the cleaning campaign in cemeteries around the City. Numerous burial sites under the administration of the City have been given more attention, as the relaxation of the Covid-19 regulations gives an increased number of our residents’ access to gravesites particularly during funeral services.

Our cemeteries including Pioneer, Donkerhoek, and Rietvlei have are being cleaned by way of grass cutting while the Tlhabane cemetery cleaning phase has been successfully ended. We urge our communities to make use of the municipal approved waste management/dropoff sites which residents can access directly to dispose of their waste such as the Strumosa drop-off facility, which is used only for garden waste, and the Waterval Landfill facility which can be used for the disposal of domestic waste.

Alternatively, residents can put their domestic waste out, as per normal on the day of collection. It is critical that illegal dumping has serious effects on the immediate environment and the health of persons who may be in close proximity to the area used for dumping.  Technical inquiries for waste-related matters can be directed to Customer Care on 0145903090 or Unit Manager: Waste Management, Mr. Julian Nkoana on 0145903101/8/3108 or jnkoana@rustenburg.gov.za

End.

RLM Mayor, MAYCO Members and EXCO Descend Upon Tlhabane West to Engage Community Over Service Delivery Concerns

Councillor Mpho Khunou, the Executive Mayor of Rustenburg, Single Whip of Council – Councillor Levy Mokwele accompanied by members the mayoral committee (MMC’s) for Technical and Infrastructure Services, Budget and Treasury Office and Roads and Transport – Councillors Michael Mhlungu, Basebi Lekoro and Lucky Kgaladi were in Tlhabane West to further engage the community on their grievances over services delivery challenges. The meeting was a continuation of an earlier meeting which was held last month and was disrupted by bad weather and was rescheduled to this weekend.

The Municipality’s Accounting office was present with a contingent of both senior and middle managers from various directorates and departments. The Executive Mayor said it was important for officials to be part of the community engagement sessions so as to appreciate the difficulty which residents are faced with on a daily basis.

The meeting focused on the following issues:

• Water Supply Interruptions
• Billing of municipality services and issuance for final demands for payment of account in arrears
• Public lighting program
• RLM’s maintenance program (electrical infrastructure and road network)
• Strumosa Waste Drop off facility for non-domestic waste and cleaning of public spaces

In his response to the community the Executive Mayor, expressed his continued agony in respect of the bulk water supply challenges which Rustenburg has continued to experience “it has been over a year now since we have been turning the heat on our bulk water suppliers particularly Magalies Water and the Rustenburg Services Trust. We have formally written on numerous occasions to the Water and Sanitation Ministry, the Deputy Minister came to Rustenburg and saw for himself the situation at the Magalies Plant. We also need to put it on record, that the water supply issue is not due any outstanding debt to the water service provider, as the RLM’s account is up-to-date” Mayor Khunou emphasized.

Currently, Magalies Water in previous engagements with the City indicated that it required about 1-billion rand to complete the Pilanesburg Water Scheme, which will at once address the bulk water supply to Rustenburg, which currently sits at a deficit of 50 mega-litres per day. However, the City has commenced with a reticulation project which will address the low watered pressure and no water supply in other areas such as Geelhout Park and Tlhabane West which will ensure that more water is pumped thus reducing the longevity of water supply interruptions, within the City’s water infrastructure network.

Victor Makona the City’s Accounting Officer, said it was important for residents to understand that the Municipality needs all the money it can receive for payment of services, if the RLM is to continue to operate without any further struggle “ladies and gentlemen I want to assure you that if you withhold any payments towards any services, our bulk services providers, including Eskom, Rand Water from whom we purchase these critical services will halt their services. That will mean that you not have water and electricity, therefore Rustenburg will face a crisis never seen before” Makona reiterated. The Municipal Manager said, the municipality will be undertaking outreach programs, where officials from the BTO will be visiting residents over their accounts and to address the final demands for payment of accounts.

The Municipal Manager, residents need to explore all avenues available including lodging of disputes over accounts for services, which will enable further investigations to be undertaken in ascertaining the veracity of the status of the account. Residents were also encouraged to make use of the indigent register which allows qualifying persons to access free basic services for water and electricity, given their household income. Residents raised concerns about the non-functionality of some street lights in their neighbourhood, which compromises their safety particularly at night. The Municipality in its recent budget adjustment tabling, approved 10 million rand which address the maintenance of the electrical network including repairs to the infrastructure.

In the same vain, the municipality has started with the road rehabilitation project where pothole patching has been effected particularly on roads with more heavy traffic volume. The RLM aware of the importance of proper road infrastructure has also set aside funds to ensure that the economy of the City is not hampered by poor road network. The RLM leadership also lamented on the community civil duty to prevent incidents of criminality which leaves the infrastructure destroyed when electrical cables are stolen and street lights cut to be sold in the black market. A program which will address the repairs will commence soon which will cover Tlhabane West and parts of Rustenburg to repair street lights which will increase visibility in the evenings for pedestrian safety.

The RLM has also not been spared from the effects of Covid-19 like many other government institutions, while the City conceded to the backlog of cleaning of public spaces, the current situation was as a result of trimming of the work force where only essential service workers were allowed to continue working such as personnel from the electricity and water unit. However, the Directorate for Community Development has begun with its program of cleaning public spaces and Tlhabane West residents like many other areas will have all their hotspots cleared to ensure that their surroundings are both clean and safe.

The Executive Mayor, assured residents that he will always be available to engage with them, and communities should not underestimate their role in being part of the solutions which will in the end assist the municipality as it endeavours to improve the level of services to residents.

End.

The Rustenburg Local Municipality, has throughout the period of the past Easter Weekend been hard at work by enforcing Covid-19 alert level 1 regulations as well as conduction visible policing as an ongoing measure of the City crime prevention strategy. With the increase in traffic volumes, law enforcement officers were out in their numbers to ensure that road safety is promoted throughout the long weekend. From Thursday, the City had numerous road-blocks which aimed at both Covid-19 compliance and general road safety objectives. Various vehicles which were stopped during the stop and search operations, were issued with sections 56 notices (traffic fines) totaling about 648 and with 198 warrants of arrests being effected.

The City continued to experience a high number of incidents in respect of illegal trading during the long Easter Weekend, followed incidents of illegal dumping. Reacting to the issues around trading of permits the Executive Mayor said, the operations which are targeting transgressors are stretching the already limited resources of the City “we continue to implore on our people to ensure that they get in touch with the Local Economic Development directorate, which will assist them with all the compliance matters in respect of informal trading in the City. The truth, is the resources deployed to this matter, could be reprioritized to other critical issues which are line with the City’s crime prevention strategy” Mayor Khunou said.

The City also, through the Emergency and Disaster Management Unit, carried out Covid-19 and fire safety compliance operations, which yielded positive results as the majority of the businesses which were inspected were found to be Covid-19 compliant, thus making them safe to be accessed by the members of the public for the procurement of goods and services. The Municipality remains concerned at the recorded incidents, which included house breaking during the past weekend. While the RLM continues to work closely with the South African Police Services, within the jurisdiction residents are reminded to ensure that their houses are well secured and notify family members of their movements. 3 males were arrested after law enforcement officials received a tip-off of a burglary in progress in Protea Park extension 1, the trio will appear in court for formal charges. While in another operation, during the weekend a group of undocumented migrants were apprehended.

End.

The Rustenburg Local Municipality leadership collective comprising the Executive Mayor – Councillor Mpho Khunou, Council Speaker – Councillor Shiela Mabale-Huma, Single Whip – Councillor Levy Mokwele and the City’s Accounting Officer Mr. Victor Makona met with the province’s MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs Hon. Mmoloki Cwaile over the City’s on-going water supply challenges. The meeting follows marathon meetings led by the Executive Mayor, which included a multi-stakeholder meeting held two weeks ago, in which water boards providing bulk-water supply to Rustenburg were present.

The Municipality’s leadership over a period of year has been working around the clock, in an attempt to bring about an end to the inconvenience which many of the City’s residents have to had to endure particularly, in Greater Boitekong, Tlhabane, Tlhabane West and Geelhout among some of the areas that have been hardest hit by consistent water supply interruptions due to low water levels as well as scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, which has had adverse effects on both domestic and commercial users in Rustenburg.

The purpose of the meeting to was to present a plan which among others will focus on the following:

• Increased universal access of clean drinking water, during the Covid-19 pandemic
• Provision of support to municipalities in the coordination of water related operations and funding
• Assist Municipalities to address water demand management operation, by ensuring that demand of supply is achieved
• To develop a medium to long term funding model and mobilization of strategic resources to respond to the water challenges and supply thereof by communities
• Through capacity building, increase water service provision in municipalities, given the constitutional imperative which the service carries in terms of the law and responsibility of government towards citizens for basic service provision

Executive Mayor Khunou, in his opening remarks said, it was well-thought for the provincial government through the office of the MEC to visit Rustenburg and get an insight into the challenges plaguing the

City “MEC Cwaile, we are grateful that you saw it fit to come to Rustenburg to get a first account of our challenges. We have agreements with three water boards and from which we buy our bulk water, however we are not getting joy from what we are paying for, as seemingly there is not value for money” Mayor Khunou said. Rustenburg residents who received their bulk water service from the Boospoort water treatment plant, have also been at the receiving end of inconsistent water supply due to the daily power outages at the plant, which have affected the water reticulation to residents.

The Municipality presented further plans, where in some areas work is near completion. This will increase supply capacity to various areas of Rustenburg while reducing water losses which have negative financial implications on the City’s ability to collect revenue from water sales. A project has been completed which when commissioned will benefit residents of both Zinniaville and East End. Further to that, through grant funding the City will augment water supply in Lekgalong and Freedom Park.

The RLM leadership expressed concern about the water supply issue in Makolokwe, which is around the on-going tussle between tribal authorities who are located between Rustenburg and Madibeng Municipalities. One of the key valves on the bulk water line is located in another village in Madibeng, unfortunately when a conflict arises between the two tribal authorities, communities in Makolokwe are deprived of water supply, as the valve which is in Madibeng will be closed off to cut supply. This further aggravates the situation as the RLM implemented a borehole project which did not yield positive results due to tables were not favorable leaving residents with more frustration. However additional measures have been put in places where once capacity of the Magalies bulk-line has been augmented, residents will have access to water.

The department has pledged its support towards the municipality, which includes the following:

• To consolidate a report which will be shared with both the provincial government and national government for interfacing and envisaged top-down intervention in dealing with the water challenges
• Deploy technical support team to the municipality, to strengthen capacity over monitoring and evaluation objectives, for improved water demand management in the short-to-medium term. This will be critical, when long terms plans are developed and unfold to ensure equitable water distribution between the RLM, mines and other bulk consumers
• To form part of the recently task team comprising of the Municipality, officials from Rand and Magalies Water as well as the mines, which will investigate water supply to all bulk customers including the RLM in understanding the holistic technical/infrastructural challenges
• To detail a medium and long term plan, with both resource allocation and funding to meet the set deliverables in increasing general access to clean drinking water which is not limited to discussion with the treasury department, to ensure financial burden reduction on the RLM
• To mobilize funding in assisting the municipality to proceed with added capacity to its water supply operations to residents, particularly where currently supply is inconsistent. Further to that the completion of the Pilanesburg Water Scheme, which when completed will resolve the current the water supply deficit to Rustenburg. This is important, as all sectors of the economy and neighboring areas to the RLM jurisdiction will benefit, although financing the project requires a province-to-national intervention.
• The department remains concerned about the on-going tussled between the two tribal councils, and will be expediting a process wherein the valve along the bulk water line be moved to ensure illegal water cuts will no longer be experienced, as a result of issues not related to service and in particular water provision.

End.