Africa-Press – South-Africa. MOGALE City Local Municipality in Krugersdorp has a new DA mayor after Councillor Tyrone Gray was on Tuesday elected executive mayor and Jacqueline Pannall as speaker.
The municipality was previously under an ANC-led coalition but the ruling party failed to win an outright majority in the local government elections held on November 1.
Gray’s election as mayor, his party said, took place after a vote of support from other opposition parties, adding it affirmed their faith in the DA’s ability to govern.
Pannall has been elected the new council speaker and will preside over council meetings and perform duties in line with the role.
DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said Mogale City had been plagued by serious service delivery challenges, financial mismanagement and lack of economic growth and productivity.
“The DA is excited to bring its brand of good governance and to turn things around for the embattled municipality.
“On our to-do list will be to get the basics right by working to restore service delivery, revitalising the local economy and fixing the public transport system.
“We are aware that success will not be achieved overnight, but our team of councillors are capable and up to the task.
“The DA wishes Mayor Gray and his team well,” Msimanga said.
Ahead of his victory, Gray said during his campaign: “Mogale City has immense potential, but sadly under the ANC the municipality is nearing collapse and is unable to deliver even the most basic services for its residents.”
He also highlighted that cash-flow constraints were resulting in the loss of millions of rand in fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
According to him, the interest penalties on bulk services accounts have become a financial burden, saying the municipality owed Eskom R390 million and Rand Water over R45m.
He indicated that Mogale City, among other things, had failed to upgrade its old and ageing water reticulation system and that there were backlogs in the capacitation of the wastewater treatment works.
“There is a huge backlog formalisation of informal settlements and no plan in place to address the housing backlog. The billing and reporting system requires vast improvements to comply with Section 95 of the Municipal Systems Act. Residents don’t get timeous replies to their queries and there isn’t an adequate tracking system for updates regarding customer care,” he said at the time.
Political Bureau
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