Residents of Heidedaal Township in Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality have welcomed the proposed merger of the city with Naledi Local Municipality, saying it could bring more opportunities to the city as it will have a bigger budget.

At a public hearing held in the township on Thursday, residents were optimistic that the merger would result in improved services as the city would be having a larger revenue base and a bigger budget with which to implement projects.

Heidedal has a population of about 9 000 people and it is one of the most impoverished areas in the metropolitan. Substance abuse and gangsterism are rife as most of the unemployed youths resort to crime to pass time. The township is also plagued with an acute housing shortage.

One of the councillors from the township Joan Peterson said she hoped that the incorporation of Naledi into Mangaung would improve the economic and social life in this township as the city would be operating on larger budget.
“This means our municipality will be bigger and our budget will also increase,” said Peterson.

“People from here will be able to receive the services they need such as more houses and jobs. We are hoping that we will also be gaining the needed skills from this new municipality,” added Peterson.
The main towns in Naledi include Dewetsdorp, Wepenaar and Van Standensrus.

City authorities are also considering incorporating Masilonyane Local Municipality which has also been struggling to deliver basic services to residents. The municipality which lies to the north of Mangaung is made up of the towns of Soutpan, Brandfort, Theunissen, Winburg and Verkeerdevlei.

Petrus Mela, 35, who is presently working under the community works programme cleaning parks and roads says he wants to see more opportunities coming to the city so that he can earn a better salary.
“The only way for our metro to get bigger is absorbing other municipalities especially those that are struggling financially,” said Mela

“That is how bigger metros like Johannesburg grew. Presently, I only receive a stipend of R1 000 a month but if Mangaung expands, my salary will also improve,” he added.
Elizabeth Scheepers, 65, has lived in Heidedal for most of her life and says she wants to see more development in Heidedal in the form of better housing and more jobs.

“We are happy and we welcome people from Naledi,” said Scheepers.

“We hope that our municipality will now be able to help us with what we need especially jobs for our young people. In this area young people and families struggle to make ends meet but hopefully that will pass,” added Scheepers.

But other residents were worried that the metro’s budget could be constrained as it will be spread over a larger municipality. They argued that the fact the municipality could not carry its own weight now means it will simply become a burden to Mangaung.

“We are not working, we need houses and we take on other people with similar challenges… This is worrying,” said one resident.

“Yes it will extend our boundaries and make our municipality bigger, but will it provide everyone with their basic needs?” the resident added.

Similar public meetings have already been held in Thaba Nchu and Botshabelo.

Disruptions to water supply in and around Bloemfontein are set to be a thing of the past with the official opening of a multi-million-ran water reservoir by Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality executive mayor Thabo Manyoni last week.

A total of 48 000 households in the metro will now benefit from an uninterrupted and regular supply of water.

The project, which started in 2011, was initiated in order to ease the water shortage challenges that were a frequent occurrence for the residents of the nearby Phahameng township, among others.

It was also intended to ease the pressure on the water supply system, especially on weekends when everybody was home and using water for a variety of needs.

Built at a cost of R42-million, the project saw scores of locals being employed to work on site and to build the fencing around the reservoir to keep it safe from vandals.

At full capacity the reservoir is built to contain 42-million litres of water ready for use by the locals.

During the official opening, Manyoni said the project will assist communities which had in the past been dogged by acute water shortages.

“It is also going to be used to supply water for new developments that we have already agreed on, such as the Vista Park 2 and 3 developments, as well as the Kenneth Motshabi township development, which is known as Dinaweng,” he said.

Manyoni said the development was in line with his administration’s drive to better the lives of the poor and to make true on the promises of the ruling party during the past elections.

“Water is life, and it is a constitutional right of our people, hence we embarked on this project to make sure our people have their dignity restored through the provision of this important, life-giving lubricant,” said the mayor.

Officials on the construction site said the reservoir was at almost 45 percent full – and that by the end of this week it will be 100 percent full.

Metro municipal manager Sibongile Mazibuko said the final water tightness testing for the reservoir will be conducted before the end of this month.

She said a new bulk line supply pipeline will take water from the reservoir to the areas of Hillside View and Turflaagte.

“The pipeline consists of an 800mm diameter pipeline, approximately 8.3km in length,” Mazibuko said.

She added that the facility will be fenced off to minimise chances of vandalism – and that a telemetric system will ensure that the water is not contaminated in any way.

Phahameng resident Mampho Mokebe said the reservoir will ease her troubles as she goes about her household chores.

“The sad thing about the water here was that it was never sufficient when you wanted to do your laundry and spring cleaning,” she said.

“Now one can be assured to start and finish one’s cleaning and washing with no water shortage hiccups.”

The project, which at its height provided employment to almost 80 people, is also meant to assist the metro in eradicating the VIP and bucket toilet systems.

The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality’s drive to eradicate VIP and bucket toilets has necessitated the extension of the capacity of the waste water treatment plant at Sterkwater to handle more volumes of waste water for treatment and purification at any point in time.

The facility will now be able to handle a volume of 20 kilolitres of waste water, unlike in the past when it only carried 10 kilolitres.

It was officially opened by executive mayor Thabo Manyoni during a site inspection tour last week.

Having cost Mangaung R33.5-million, with R21.5-million of this spent on civil construction work and the rest on mechanical and electrical equipment, the development will benefit at least 38 000 households in the metro.

“As one of the fastest growing cities in the country, it has become imperative that we revisit our infrastructure so that it is able to accommodate the population here, as well as plan for future developments which will also require water,” Manyoni said.

He said the metro was determined to improve the quality of life of the people of Mangaung and to keep their toilets flushing and their taps running.

Manyoni, however, called on residents not to block the system by using newspapers and other undesirable objects to cleanse themselves following a visit to the bathrooms.

“That would be a major problem that would render the system unable to function the way it is intended to,” he said.

The new facility is fitted with new ponds, a biological reactor, two clarifiers as well as a chlorination tank.

The extension of the facility will continue in the next two financial years to add 20 to 30 more kilolitres of water to the capacity of this facility.

In two years’ time there won’t be anyone living in a shack within the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, executive mayor Thabo Manyoni has promised.

He made this undertaking on his visit to the sprawling Chris Hani informal settlement on the outskirts of Bloemfontein as part of the local authority’s Mandela Day activities.

The municipality is already formalising the Khayelitsha slum, also in the Free State provincial capital, where shacks are being replaced with neat brick-and-mortar houses.

“We want each parent to be able to leave their children an inheritance of a house on departing from this earth,” Manyoni said, in an address to scores of residents he met on his tour of the Chris Hani settlement last Friday.

“It will be all good knowing that our children stay in houses they can call their home when we are no longer around to fend for them,” he added.

The mayor was accompanied on the tour by officials from the budget airline Mango which has several domestic flights to and from Bloemfontein.

Social soccer and netball matches pitting teams assembled by Mango played against Chris Hani residents to mark the occasion.

There were also jumping castles for the amusement of children, while 300 small garden buckets and spades were handed over to children as gifts by the airline.

Mango’s Lebo Monamotsane said the airline was very excited to partner the municipality in celebrating Mandela Day – marked every July 18, on the late anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela’s birthday, as a global call to action that celebrates the idea that each individual has the power to transform the world.

She advised the young ones to emulate democratic South Africa’s first president by taking their studies seriously and striving to do good at all times.

“Be the change that you want to see in the world . . . if you want a world in which people support each other, be the first to support others,” Monamotsane said.

The ward councillor for the Chris Hani area, Masabata Matsemelela, said she was humbled that Manyoni had chosen to visit her area as part of his Mandela Day activities.

“His presence here, in the true spirit of Mandela, gives us hope that the challenges that we face will certainly be attended to,” she said.

“Our kids here still do not have a school and have to travel long distances to nearby ones, and our roads are also not up to scratch. However, we are hopeful that this will be an old story soon.”

Earlier on Mandela Day, Manyoni had visited the statue of Madiba on top of Naval Hill in Bloemfontein where he laid wreaths.

“To mark this great South African, people worldwide are celebrating his birthday today – it has never happened with anyone and it will take a very long time before it happens again,” the mayor said.

The mayor said Mandela, born and bred in the village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape province, became a famous and loved international statesman despite his humble background.

“Where you are coming from should never be a determining factor about what you can achieve in life,” Manyoni said.

“And it does not mean you cannot overcome challenges and turn your life around – take it from Mandela.”