Posts Tagged ‘democratic alliance kouga’

Multi Million Fleet tender to improve Service Delivery in Kouga

October 28, 2021

To improve service delivery to all residents in the region, the DA led Kouga Municipality has awarded a three-year contract to four service providers for the supply of 15 various types of new vehicles.

The contracts, which was awarded on Wednesday, October 27, will see the lease of over 60 much-needed vehicles to augment the municipality’s existing fleet.

The 17 different types of new vehicles, either replacing old vehicles or adding to the fleet, include double cab bakkies, back-up loaders, refuse compactor trucks, sewer suction tankers, tipper trucks, high-rise light delivery vehicles (both 2×4 and 4×4), high pressure water and vacuum drain cleaning trucks, 4×4 tractors, flat-bed trucks (one with a crane), as well as a landfill refuse compactor, a track-type tractor (bulldozer), a forklift, a truck with a mesh cage, a grader and a vibratory soil compactor (roller).

“The vehicles will be strategically allocated to key departments to enhance the municipality’s ability to better respond to service delivery challenges,” said Kouga Executive Mayor, Horatio Hendricks.

“This will not only ensure an excellent fleet, but also a well-run fleet which well maintained and fully operational.

“The new vehicles will strengthen our service departments and enable them to work more efficiently and cost effectively.

We are confident that this will help curb unnecessary delays and improve our service delivery response time.

”Hendricks said the contract will, furthermore, reduce vehicle hiring costs, which were budgeted at over R30 million in the previous financial years to R20 million in the current financial year and the two outer financial years – resulting in a saving of over R30 million over the three-year contract.

“The municipality has the option to purchase the vehicles once the contract date has expired – without any additional implications on the currently approved budget,” said Hendricks.

“This is subject to the condition of the vehicle or vehicles. If a specific vehicle is not in a good condition, we do not purchase it.

”According to Hendricks, cost will also be significantly reduced as old vehicles will be replaced and new vehicles will have a maintenance plan.

“Thus, the contract will result in major savings on the current and outer year budget.

Doing more with less and value-for-money is certainly being achieved.”

The DA has kept Jeffreys Bay serviced since 2016

October 21, 2021

From the Desk of Kouga Executive Mayor, Horatio Hendricks:

Since taking over Kouga in August 2016, we were faced with many challenges. A poorly governed municipality, wildfires, and the start of a prolonged drought, were just some of them.

Over the years, we have succeeded in turning the fortunes of a municipality that was on the brink of collapse into a place of hope – a place where the pursuit of happiness and prosperity is real for everyone.

This was done through grit and determination, by building trust and partnership, and placing value on the social contract we formed with our people, as well as placing people at the centre of everything we do.

Despite the devastation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, ravaging lives, and economies across the region, we succeeded in keeping Jeffreys Bay serviced, while caring for the communities – one of the most important aspects of what we as Council do.

While there are many mountains we still need to climb, and a virus that we need to combat together, we are on track and determined to deliver a system of good governance through service excellence.

Read more about all the service delivery highlights over the past five years, at https://online.flippingbook.com/view/306702722/.

The DA has turned Kouga Municipality around

September 23, 2021

In 2016 the Democratic Alliance took over government of a nearly bankrupt Kouga Municipality in the Eastern Cape.

Five years later, this municipality has recovered financially and doesn’t just deliver more services to more people but can also afford to invest more funding in capital infrastructure development than ever before.

The sad reality for the people of Kouga is that the DA could have already governed their municipality in 2011.

The five wasted years of further ANC rule between 2011 and 2016 nearly brought this municipality to its knees.

If you look at the election results of 2011 below, you will see how easily the DA could have won the municipality in 2011 already.

2209 votes were casted for parties and/or independents that could not manage to get a seat in that council.

Unfortunately, all of those votes were wasted. In contrast, the DA would have only needed 860 of those votes to take control of Kouga in that election.

It’s certainly your democratic right to vote for the party of your choice. If you are however serious in wanting to defeat the ANC, there is only one party that can deliver a knockout blow to them and that is the DA.

Vote for the DA because the DA gets things done in Kouga!

Kouga, a South African success story

September 17, 2021

No matter how bad things are in many parts of South Africa, the story of Kouga Municipality in the Eastern Cape shows us that things can turn around swiftly with the right leadership.

Kouga is home to some 200 000 people living in Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp, St Francis Bay and the surrounding areas.

When they gave the DA an outright majority in the 2016 local government elections, we inherited an indebted municipality collapsing under years of ANC neglect and corruption. To make matters worse, it was also the start of a prolonged drought.

Five years on, Kouga is a place of hope and progress, where the promise of “a better life for all” is real for people. The difference between 2016 and 2021 is striking. Consider the progress made in the following delivery areas.

Housing: The ANC-run council had neither built nor facilitated the building of a single house in Kouga since 2007. Since 2016, the DA-run council has completed 611 houses and another 3025 are in the pipeline while a further 2790 are being held up by land and infrastructure issues.

This is against a backlog of about 15 000 houses needed, meaning that real progress is being made.

Fleet: In 2016, only 4% of Kouga’s vehicle fleet was operational. Today, 96% of the municipality’s vehicles are on the road every day to service communities, and 57 new vehicles have been added to the fleet.

Roads: From 2011 to 2016, the ANC-run municipality spent an average of R3.5 million per year on road maintenance. The DA-run municipality has tripled that delivery rate, spending on average over R10 million per year on repairing and upgrading roads in the past five years.

Public amenities: In 2016, public amenities were in a state of disrepair with little to no maintenance happening. Since 2016, the DA council has undertaken a massive maintenance drive and upgraded community halls, ablution facilities, sports facilities, parks, and campsites.

Investment: By 2016, investment in Kouga had all but dried up and local businesses did not want to take on contracts for the municipality because of its reputation for non-payment. Kouga is now an investment hub. A brand-new hospital is being built in Jeffreys Bay, while R4 billion has been invested in two housing developments, and several large companies have set up in Kouga.

But the municipality isn’t just content with getting these basics right. It is actively innovating, to take Kouga from good to great.

The municipality won gold at the Eco-Logic awards last year for the first plastic road in Africa, built in Jeffreys Bay using recycled plastic (equivalent to 1.8 million plastic bags per kilometre of road).

This revolutionary new approach to tarring could increase the lifespan of roads while reducing maintenance costs and plastic pollution. If ever there was hard proof that the DA goes the extra mile, this is it.

Kouga has its sights on becoming the country’s leading Bioeconomy Zone. An SA subsidiary of Hive Energy is set to develop a waste-to-energy plant, a solar plant, and a biochar plant that turns invasive alien vegetation biomass into “green charcoal” which has several environmentally friendly applications.

The first biochar units have been manufactured to kickstart the project.

The council has built a new state-of-the-art waste water treatment works and is upgrading its three other waste water treatments works, one of the many ways this municipality is fighting off Day Zero during a devastating drought which has brought the Kouga Dam level to below 5% this week.

Day Zero may be just weeks away but if it happens, Kouga residents will know their municipality pulled out all the stops to avoid it. It is aggressively pursuing water security by every means possible, including through groundwater supply and water conservation and demand management initiatives.

All this investment and innovation comes at a cost, and yet Kouga’s finances are in a much healthier state now than five years ago when the DA council took over. In 2016, Kouga was heavily indebted. Today, this debt has been paid off yet cash on hand is almost double what it was back then.

Kouga is a wonderful South African success story that needs to be replicated in municipalities across the country. What are the keys to its success?

First is meritocracy. People and service providers are appointed based on their ability to get the job done for the benefit of the public, rather than on political connections for the benefit of the party. This is why the people of Kouga are at the centre of everything council does.

Second is accountability. Before 2016, corruption was rife and went unchecked.

Since 2016, the approach has been one of zero tolerance for corruption, driven by an anti-corruption unit which has seen two officials suspended for fraudulently issuing drivers licenses.

Third is decentralization. By collaborating with community groups and the business sector, they’ve managed to get much more done than would have been possible working in isolation.

The trick to getting stuff done in government is to understand that government is not so much about doing stuff as about enabling stuff to get done. South Africans are super entrepreneurial and innovative. They just need a government that’s working for them rather than against them.

The story of Kouga shows that the first step to building a successful South Africa is to vote DA. In the local government elections on 1 November 2021, a vote for the DA will be a vote for success because the DA gets things done.

DA announces mayoral candidates for three Eastern Cape municipalities

September 7, 2021

In the run-up to the Local Government Elections, the DA has announced Mayoral candidates in three of the Eastern Cape municipalities, outside of Nelson Mandela Bay, which the DA can win.

These three are the DA-run Kouga Municipality, and the Eastern Cape Karoo municipalities of Inxuba Yethemba and Dr Beyers Naude.

“We have spent a year on our very thorough candidate selection process and we are confident that our mayoral candidates are the right people to get things done,” said Andrew Whitfield, the DA Provincial Chairperson in the Eastern Cape.

“In the Kouga Municipality, where the DA government has been a beacon of hope for local government in the Eastern Cape since taking over in 2016, our candidate is the current Mayor, Cllr Horatio Hendricks.

In the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality, our candidate for Mayor is Cllr Monde Desha who has served as a DA councillor for six years and as caucus leader for five years.

In the Dr Beyers Naude Municipality, our candidate is Cllr Ewald Loock who served as Mayor of the erstwhile Baviaans Municipality for 13 years.

The DA is ready to retain a majority to keep making progress in the Kouga Municipality and bring even more prosperity to this region.

We also believe we can win outright majorities in Inxuba Yethemba and Dr Beyers Naude as a result of the complete neglect by the ANC and the work we have done over many years in those municipalities,” said Whitfield.

Towns like Cradock (Inxuba Yethemba) and Graaff-Reinet (Dr Beyers Naude) used to be the pride of rural Eastern Cape, but decades under an ANC government have seen these towns reduced to rubble and stripped of their former glory.

Residents have become accustomed to raw sewage flowing in the streets, massive potholes, rubbish not being collected and constant water and electricity outages.

The lack of service delivery has destroyed the local economy, and unemployment has sky-rocketed.

But where the DA governs, we get things done, and a prime example of this is the Kouga Municipality.

Some of the successes achieved in Kouga are:

☑️Kouga passed its first-ever R1 billion budget in 2020.

☑️1 596 households have received access to electricity for the first time.

☑️Africa’s first eco-friendly plastic road was constructed.

☑️More than 20 000 potholes have been repaired since 2018/19

☑️R151,2 million was secured in drought disaster funding.

☑️1 827 historic title deeds have been delivered to beneficiaries

☑️Kouga is the most financially stable municipality in the Eastern Cape.

The DA has a plan to keep making progress in Kouga and save the people of Inxuba Yethemba and Dr Beyers Naude from the corrupt, inept and destructive ANC.

Our candidates and their teams will be out in their communities to share the DA’s message of change and prosperity with the residents of these municipalities.

Because where the DA governs, we get things done.

Kouga Municipality adds no markup on Electricity tariffs

August 26, 2021

As much as the DA governed Kouga Municipality was mindful of the tough economic climate on residents when setting the 2021/22 budget, the recent electricity tariff increase was guided by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa and Eskom.

From July 1 this year, residents were paying 14.59% more for electricity.

This despite the municipality voicing their concern through the participation process to NERSA earlier this year.

Kouga Executive Mayor, Horatio Hendricks, said the municipality realised that the electricity hike would hit residents’ pockets hard, given the current economic climate brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In a bid to keep the electricity tariff as low as possible for local residents, the municipality did not add a markup to the awarded increased percentage by NERSA to Eskom – giving them the green light to charge municipalities more,” he said.

“The municipality is also on the receiving end as far as this is concerned, especially when it comes to electrical infrastructure service delivery and electrical bills that have to be paid.”

The step tariff electrical costs are as follows:

Block 1: 0 units to 50 units – R1.16 per unit
Block 2: 51 units to 350 units – R1.51 per unit
Block 3: 351 units to 600 units – R2.16 per unit
Block 4: More than 600 units – R2.60 per unit

Hendricks urged all residents to utilise electricity wisely, as well as to use less electricity from 07:00 to 09:00 and from 17:00 to 22:00.

Making Kouga the safest Municipality in South Africa

September 21, 2020

The DA led Kouga Municipality recently hosted the first ever Public Safety Summit in the history of the Municipality.

To ensure people want to live, work and play in Kouga, they need to feel safe and secure.

Mayor Horatio Hendricks at the Kouga Public Safety Summit

Therefore it is essential that all the relevant role players work together to ensure we are all safe when we working or going to the shop or to the beach. We also need to be safe in our homes.

This was the declaration made by participants of the first Kouga Public Safety Summit 2020.

We commit to:

* Working together to make Kouga the safest municipality in South Africa to live, work and play.
* Compiling an inclusive Kouga Public Safety Plan that identifies and addresses safety risks in the region.
* Holding the Kouga Public Safety Summit on an annual basis to bring together all stakeholders to review the Kouga Public Safety Plan.
* Partnering and building relationships with community, business and government stakeholders on a continuous basis to keep Kouga safe.
* Rolling out the Keep Kouga Safe campaign to encourage long-term behavioural change in support of safer communities.
* Identifying and implementing strategies to build resilience.
* Investing in state-of-the-art security technology to prevent and combat crime.
* Identifying and rolling out strategies to improve the safety of rural and farm communities.
* Lobbying the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for tax relief for farmers who invest in security measures to safeguard the lives of their families and workers and to prevent the theft of stock and produce.
* Facilitating the establishment of community safety structures and supporting their daily operations.”

For further information check out the following Summit interviews:

KOUGA EXECUTIVE MAYOR HORATIO HENDRICKS –
https://www.facebook.com/276260419803608/posts/792364798193165/

WESTERN CAPE PREMIER ALAN WINDE –
https://www.facebook.com/276260419803608/posts/790426015053710/

WESTERN CAPE AGRICULTURE MINISTER, DR IVAN MEYER –
https://www.facebook.com/276260419803608/posts/791616128268032/

EASTERN CAPE MPL BOBBY STEVENSON –
https://www.facebook.com/276260419803608/posts/790291308400514/

DA celebrates Heritage Month in Kouga

September 29, 2019

Great fun was had in Jeffreys Bay on Saturday when the DA held a bowls day at the local bowling club.

36 teams from all over Kouga enjoyed an afternoon of bowls and socialising after watching the Springboks dismantle Namibia in the Rugby World Cup.

The Bowls Day was held as a fund raiser in the Ttisti Kouga Constituency.

“Thank you to everyone who came out to support the inaugural DA Bowls fundraiser in Jeffreys Bay. What a tremendous success!

A very special thank you to Carla Kritzinger without whom this day would not have been possible,” said DA Provincial Chairperson Andrew Whitfield.

“Politics can also be fun and we will be holding this event on an annual basis,” said Whitfield.

Mayor Hendricks declares war on potholes

August 28, 2019

Kouga Executive Mayor Horatio Hendricks has declared war against potholes.

A special Mayoral intervention programme, aimed at strengthening the municipality’s capacity to repair roads, will be rolled out across the region over the next six months.

Hendricks said R3-million had been set aside for the programme so that more muscle and machinery could be hired to improve the quality of pothole repairs.

“The municipal road teams have been doing a commendable job and repaired almost 8 000 potholes over the past financial year, but there are not enough of them to deal with the problem decisively.

“Kouga’s roads were not maintained by the previous regimes, resulting in a backlog of more than R500-million. This is more than half the municipality’s total annual budget,” he said.

“While the intervention will not mean the end of all potholes, it will set a new standard for repairs and bring us closer to a more permanent fix.”

He said 70 contract workers would be hired and trained to assist the road teams as part of the intervention.

“We’ll also be hiring specialised equipment to improve the quality of repairs, so that fixed potholes don’t simply wash open every time it rains.”

He said the focus would be on high-risk roads with heavy traffic flow, especially in the Gamtoos Valley area.

Hendricks said the municipality would also be going on tender to appoint a contractor to reseal roads.

Thirty-two roads and parking areas, with a total surface area of 140 977m², were resealed in Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp, St Francis Bay, Cape St Francis, Hankey and Patensie over the past financial year.

“We’ve had good feedback from communities about the recent resealing programme, with towns such as Hankey never before having benefited from such an initiative.

“We look forward to expanding the programme and will continue looking for innovative ways to get all our roads up to an acceptable standard,” he said.

Kouga is making progress under DA governance

August 8, 2019

Under the DA’s leadership after winning the Municipality in 2016, Kouga is financially stronger than it has ever been.

Mayor Horatio Hendricks showcased Kouga at a media briefing in Johannesburg yesterday and said that the collection of debt has increased from 72% in August 2016 to 94% in August 2019.

The municipality’s cash-on-hand has grown from R 38 million in June 2016 to R 214 million in June 2019.

The DA-led council also adopted an anti-corruption strategy and established a Financial Misconduct Disciplinary Board.

Kouga municipality implemented a borehole project to augment its water supply and secured R151.2 million in drought funding for ground water development and Water Conservation and Demand Management projects.

Thirty boreholes were drilled at Jeffreys Bay, Oyster Bay, Hankey and Patensie, with 12 delivering good yields and quality. Seven boreholes were drilled at Humansdorp. The test results are being awaited.

The municipality has also invested millions to upgrade its water and wastewater treatment works, benefitting thousands of households.

Under the previous ANC regimes, the building of new government-subsidised housing came to a standstill.

“This changed under the leadership of the DA when in 2017 work started on the top structures of 391 houses at Kruisfontein. Another two housing projects are currently underway and another seven are in the advanced planning stage.

When the DA took over in 2016, Kouga had almost 4000 household which still relied on a bucket toilet system.

The DA-led municipality is currently in the process of eradicating more than 2000 bucket toilets through current housing projects, and has also launched a multi-year programme in the 2018/19 financial year to eliminate the use of buckets in Kouga entirely,” said Hendricks.

The regional landfill site at Humansdorp and Hankey waste site were upgraded, an official recycler was appointed, and new drop-off zones were opened at Jeffreys Bay, St Francis Bay and Oyster Bay.

In addition, the municipality has started distributing wheelie bins to households to replace black bags. A total of 7 713 wheelie bins were delivered to Hankey, Patensie, Loerie, Thornhill and Humansdorp during 2018/2019, with the roll-out set to continue in the new financial year.

In 2016, the DA-led municipality inherited a vehicle fleet which was almost entirely broken. Only 4% of the fleet was fully operational. A fleet replacement plan has subsequently been implemented, by the DA, and at least 90% of the fleet is in operation daily.

“We also became the first municipality in the Sarah Baartman district to launch an app-supported call centre for residents to submit service requests.

A total of 35 201 service requests and faults were resolved through the Kouga Call Centre and Link service delivery app during 2018/2019. This is more than double the number of 17 298 that were resolved the previous year, added Hendricks.

From 2017 to 2018 the DA-led municipality distributed an historic 1 827 title deeds. A 98-year-old resident from Patensie recently became the official owner of a home for the first time.

Tuli Wilson Tanda had been living on the property for more than 15 years, and only under the DA was it registered in his name in July 2019 for the first time.

The DA-led Kouga will be pioneering the first road made from plastic waste in Africa, a stronger and more durable alternative to traditional asphalt mixes.

A total of 7 785 potholes were repaired during the 2018/2019 financial year and 32 roads and parking areas, totalling 140 977m², were resealed.

Kouga is poised to become the first municipality in the Eastern Cape to roll out free unlimited WiFi to the public. An agreement has been reached between the Council and Cell C.

To ensure the safety of both residents and visitors in Kouga, the DA-led municipality installed security cameras along the main beachfront of Jeffreys Bay, for the first time, and spotlights were recently erected at the informal settlement in Donkerhoek and at the entrance to upper Vaaldam in Humansdorp.