Christmas Message from the Executive Mayor of Sedibeng

2011 has been a very busy and challenging year for the Sedibeng District Municipality. Sedibeng, like the rest of the country and the world, is feeling the economic effects of the recession. We remain committed to alleviating the negative impact through focusing on job creation and poverty alleviation, especially through infrastructure development. The Evaton Renewal Project has made some progress in this regard, with the completion of the Mafatsane Thusong Centre, roads construction and housing developments, and the agricultural cooperative ... [ Read more ]

Christmas Message from the Executive Mayor of Emfuleni

That time of the year has arrived where we have to look back at the year that was and see if we have lived up to our 2011 resolutions. Many of us enthusiastically set goals and targets to achieve this year. Very often, we wake up one day and the year we thought we have has already ended. Fortunately, in government we are held accountable and planning is an important tool which makes monitoring and evaluation of our work easier. The last six months of this new term of office have been used to consolidate the gains that were made in the previous term. We focused on job creation and service delivery, and managed to create 426 jobs through our community works programme ... [ Read more ]

2011 Message from the Evaton Development Forum

The EDF is a community forum elected by the people of Evaton to participate in the Evaton Renewal Project. The aim of the EDF is to keep the people of Evaton informed about the development projects taking place and to ensure their involvement. "The EDF is the eyes, ears and voice for the Evaton Community as a whole! We hold consultative and information sharing community meetings and we also play a role in monitoring the progress of the projects", says Lovemore Moremi, EDF Acting Chairperson ... [ Read more ]

Christmas Message from Humphrey Mmemezi, MEC for Local Government and Housing

Christmas is just around the corner. It is that time of the year when people reflect on the year that has passed, with mixed emotions. This year was one of the challenging years for the Evaton Renewal Project (ERP) and for the people of Evaton in terms of land acquisition and the alignment of zonal development to pave the way for full scale housing delivery. However, we are confident that these challenges, instead of dampening our spirits, shall sharpen our efforts to make Evaton a better place. We will continue striving in 2012. Gradually, Evaton is changing for better ... [ Read more ]

Successful SMME is Proudly Evatonion

Billy Mashigo is a director of two SMME businesses, 'Blue Sands Trading and Plant Hire', and 'Masanza Transport', and is proudly Evatonion. His companies have successfully delivered services to the Evaton Renewal Project (ERP). "We have worked closely with the Evaton Renewal Project in the past, as construction sub-contractors, and have delivered on their quality standards and on time. The ERP has really helped small businesses like mine to become established. Unfortunately now there are no ERP contracts, due to budget constraints. Our strategy now is to approach the private sector, local government and other government departments", says Mashigo ... [ Read more ]

Mafetsane Thusong Centre Completed

The Mafatsane Thusong Centre, the flagship infrastructure development project of the Evaton Renewal Project (ERP) is now complete and operational. Mafatsane was planned as a one stop centre to house various government departments, so that the community of Evaton and surrounding areas can access government .... [ Read more ]

Food Gardens and Trees for Evaton

The Evaton Renewal Project (ERP) together with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Food & Trees for Africa, plan to launch the Greening of Evaton campaign early in 2012. This pilot project will initially target 200 homes in Wards 43 and 44, who will each receive a tree for their home, workshops to develop food gardens and the opportunity to enter a competition to identify the best foods gardens by March 2012. The CEO Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) Jeunesse Park says, "The training workshops will cover soil preparation, natural and organic soil improvement, pest management, resourceful water management and use, garden layout and design. Households that register will also receive seeds and seedlings to get their gardens started" ... [ Read more ]

ERP Job Creation & SMME Empowerment

ERP Labour and Business Desk: A labour desk and business desk for registration of SMMEs and the unemployed were set up by the ERP to register unemployed people and SMMEs in Evaton. To date, 7491 unemployed people have registered with the labour desk and 1226 SMMEs in Evaton have registered with the business desk. Registered individuals and SMMEs were involved in ... [ Read more ]

Urban Farming on the Move

One of the earliest initiatives of the Evaton Renewal Project (ERP) has been the Urban Food Gardening Project, currently based next to the new Mafatsane Thusong Centre. The hydroponic and organic gardening project at the Wilberforce College, established in 2005, has been successfully integrated into the Mafatsane site ... [ Read more ]

Evaton Renewal Project 2011 Achievements

In 2004, Evaton was chosen as one of the townships that required regeneration. Due to the history of apartheid planning, Evaton has low economic activity, a disjointed spatial plan and deteriorated municipal services. The development framework of the Evaton Renewal Project emphasises 5 precincts for ... [ Read more ]

Emfuleni Mayors Annual Sports Tournament Announcement

Emfuleni Mayors Annual Sports Tournament
Netball and Soccer teams are invited to enter ... [ Read more ]

Government Priority: Safety & Security - Safe havens for victims

Police stations all over South Africa are becoming more victim-friendly through the Victim Empowerment Programme. From rape victims to abused women and children, those with no roof over their heads and even desperate parents.

Aaron Maepa and Philda Setshedi have heard and seen it all. The two are social workers who volunteer at the Pretoria Central Police Station's Victim Empowerment Programme to counsel and help victims of crime. ... [ Read more ]

Government Priority: Education - Parents, schools share education duty

In his State of the Nation Address, President Jacob Zuma promised that education would be a key priority for the next five years. "We want our teachers, learners and parents to work together with government to turn our schools into thriving centres of excellence." Government is committed to improving learning and teaching for every learner in South Africa. To achieve this, President Jacob Zuma made it clear that that teachers must be in school and in class, on time, teaching, with no neglect of duty and no abuse of pupils... [ Read more ]

Let's be kind to the environment

There's been a lot of talk in the media lately about climate change and the negative effect it has on the enviornment. It leads to natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and tsunamis. But human actions can also affect the environment negatively.

A lot of the things we use in our homes and at work, as well as some of the things we do affect the environment in some way or another... [ Read more ]

Government Priority: Safety & Security - Crime drops, but challenges remain

Government is winning the war against crime. This was confirmed during the recent release of the crime statistics for the year starting in April 2010 end in March 2011.

Crime statistics showed a marked drop in all seven categories of contact crime. These include murder, attempted murder, sexual offences and assault with serious grievous bodily harm, common assault, aggravated robbery and common robbery.... [ Read more ]

Comment on the Green Paper on National Health Insurance Policy

Healthcare is a Constutional right to which all South Africans are entitled. It should not depend on how rich or how poor you are. To ensure access to quality healthcare across the board, government is introducing the National Health Insurance (NHI) system. The NHI is a financing system that will ensure that all South Africans have access to essential healthcare, regardless of financial or social status, or their ability to make a direct financial contribution to the NHI fund... [ Read more ]

Blitz for Passenger Safety

"No more shall our people die in so many accidents. We say no more shall our people die deaths which can be avoided", said Minister Sibusiso Ndebele when he launched Transport Month last year. This year Minister Ndebele calls upon all public transport operators to take responsibility for the safety of their commuters. He said this should be part of our commitment to road safety in this Global Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020... [ Read more ]

Sedibeng Mayor Reports of ERP Progress

The Sedibeng District Council held its ordinary Council meeting in Vereeniging on the 5th October 2011.

As per our commitment during our elections campaign that we will ensure that every councillor would regularly report back to the community and explain plans, successes and challenges, it is in this regard that I on behalf of the Sedibeng District Municipality take this opportunity to bring you abreast with the development in our Sedibeng District Council... [ Read more ]

Profile of the Executive Mayor of Emfuleni

Greta Nomadlozi Hlongwane started her political activism in the early 1980's in Pimville, Soweto. After her husband was arrested in 1987 for political activism, she joined the African National Congress and the youth League Pimville Branch. She then moved to Palm Springs and became active in the following: Palm Springs Branch; Greater Vereeniging branch; Vaal,Sub-Region and currently the Sedibeng Region. She remained politically resilient to the point where she is today. During those days giving up was a possibility due to arrests; harassment, including death by the then security agents, but she never gave up even in the face of very serious challenges. ... [ Read more ]

Profile of the Gauteng MEC for Local Government and Housing

Gauteng Local Government and Housing MEC Humphrey Mdumzeli Zondelele Mmemezi was born on the 26th of February 1955 in Buthulo rural village of Lusikisiki in the former Transkei (now Eastern Cape). At a very young age, he was exposed to the Eastern Pondoland rebellion of 1960 which had great political influence on him.

Like most rural young men, his first responsibility was to look after his guardian's livestock (cattle, goats and sheep), and only started school at the age of thirteen (13)... [ Read more ]