Inner City Gazette

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Issue 21 - 2018

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New MMC for Housing According to Mashaba, access to affordable housing represents one of the greatest needs of residents in the City, and it is a priority of the multi-party government to reverse the legacy of landlessness and dispossession that continues in the City

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

C

ity of Johannesburg Executive Mayor, Herman Mashaba has appointed a new MMC for Housing in an effort to turnaround the portfolio.

The Mayor in a statement announced that Councillor Meshack van Wyk of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) would replace the former MMC for housing Councillor Mzobanzi Ntuli of the IFP. Mashaba said that despite Ntuli’s best efforts he was unable to improve the department’s performance and that a change in leadership was needed to address this.

“Former MMC Ntuli has served in the position since September 2016. He inherited a Housing Department that was performing poorly and with a legacy of corruption,” the mayor said.

“Despite former MMC Ntuli’s best efforts,

PICTURED: City of Johannesburg, Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba and newly appointed MMC for Housing Cllr Meshack van Wyk

the Department’s performance has not improved. While this is primarily a function of the administration of this Department, it is going to require different leadership to affect the turnaround of this critical function in the City.”

Mashaba has tasked Van Wyk with several key projects which include: lInner City regeneration to fast track delivery of affordable housing, student accommodation and small business space. lIdentification of city owned land for Ser-

vice Stands. lMaximise the utilization of Provincial and National grants to deliver houses for our residents. lExpedite delivery of Title Deeds to qualifying residents. lFinalization and publication of the official open Housing waiting list. lDevelopment of new Housing Policy for the City of Johannesburg.

“I would like to wish MMC van Wyk the

best in his new role and have every confidence in his ability to positive change to housing department.

“I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the former MMC for Housing, Councillor Mzobanzi Ntuli, for his service under tremendous pressure.

“We will continue to do what is right for the residents of our City, understanding the change that is demanded of us and our residents’ expectations,”Mashaba concluded.

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Inner-city Gazette

31 May - 7 June 2018

For further information Contact Boston on 011 551-2000, e-mail info@boston.co.za, visit www.boston.co.za, or Facebook.

Boston Higher Education – the

primary antidote to unemployment

T

he biggest news to hit our campus this year has been our award of accreditation with the British Accreditation Council (BAC). Our graduates are now assured international accreditation of their degree, diploma or higher certificate without having to sit for additional examinations.

We are extremely proud to make this announcement!” says Boston’s Head of Institution, Dr Hendrik Botha.

With Boston City Campus & Business College now open for mid-year registrations for higher certificates, diplomas and degree studies, one should use the opportunity to reflect on how attaining a higher education qualification can better position you to secure a job or promotion, hold onto a current position or to take up an entrepreneurial challenge with confidence, with our ‘fit-for-purpose’ and recognized qualifications”.

“According to labour market reports, the retrenchment rate is now at a 10-year high – while the unemployment rate increased from 22.5 percent in 2008 to the current 26.7 percent in the first quarter of 2018. Then there’s the recent news that youth unemployment had soared from 32.7 percent to 36.1 percent in the six years from 2008 to 2014,” says Botha.

For Botha, the importance of attaining a higher education has a two fold significance that can both directly and indirectly address these issues of unemployment and retrenchment.

“Firstly, the relevance of a vibrant higher education sector is recognised internationally and investment therein, whether through individuals who take up further studies or through government funding, promotes eco-

In South Africa acquiring a higher education has helped many people start their own businesses and grow these into successful companies.

nomic prosperity and greater employment over the medium to long term.

Secondly, we need to remind ourselves just how important a relevant qualification is when looking for work or simply trying to stay secure in one’s current job.

Unemployment and retrenchment statistics are showing us a rather desperate reality, and now more than ever, we need to be proactive with our employment opportunities,” adds

Botha.

“You should waste no time in assessing your situation. Start by asking: Am I on the right career path?

Are there areas in my specific skills set where I need to improve?

Do I have the proper qualifications and tools to apply for a job with confidence? Is a matric certificate, diploma or degree enough in our highly competitive market? And, where do I want to be in a few years from now?

Only after addressing these questions

should one make the decision on what studies to look into and where will best suit you,” says Botha.

Gaining a competitive edge and acquiring the necessary skills form the foundation of employability. “It’s also about staying relevant and up-todate so that we can offer turn-key solutions to our clients as well as our employers,” says Botha.

And to those who are fortunate enough to have secure jobs, Botha advises, “considering the current vol-

atile nature of our economy, many companies, big and small, have moved into ‘survival mode’. Retrenchment is a natural result thereof, always have a plan B whether it be starting your own business or making a lateral move into a new area.”

Botha further reminds us that in South Africa acquiring a higher education has helped many people start their own businesses and grow these into successful companies.

Statistics from the Department of Trade & Industry show that these small and medium enterprises contribute between 52 to 57% to our Gross Domestic Product and account for approximately 61% of employment.

“So yes, entrepreneurship definitely does seem to be one possible cure for the unemployment rate.

The other reality is that these businesses operate in a highly competitive market, so you need to be up to date in your tech knowledge, social media marketing and general business skills,” he continues.

Mid-year registrations for higher certificates, diplomas and degrees at Boston City Campus & Business College are now officially open for everyone and run until end July. Prospective students don’t have to wait until next year to start their studies.

“With our recent announcement of BAC accreditation the value of a Boston qualification has vastly increased for all our graduates and opens new possibilities in the UK and EU markets. For more information on these programmes as well as all the other short courses and digital offerings to enhance your professional skills, please visit: www.boston.co.za

31 May - 7 June 2018

Funeral Cover 3

Inner-city Gazette

Changing perceptions about funeral cover Old Mutual’s new radio drama highlights the benefits of being prepared

F

uneral cover is the first financial product many South Africans buy after opening a bank account. Yet Old Mutual’s Head of Distribution, Prudence Thipe, says there is a still a lack of knowledge around funeral policies, their benefits and where to begin when the time comes to submit a claim.

“Funerals can be expensive, irrespective of your culture or religion.

There are so many hidden costs.

Through an educational radio drama called When Death Calls, we want to help South Africans understand the importance of financially preparing for their own funerals and for the task of burying their loved ones,” said Thipe.

The radio drama, currently being broadcast on Ligwalagwala FM, Lesedi FM, Motsweding FM, Umhlobo Wenene FM, Thobela FM and Ukhozi FM, is aimed at raising awareness and changing perceptions about the importance of funeral cover. The emotionally charged script follows everyday South Africans - Sophie, Raymond, Bra Joe, Primrose and Valencia - who are in the midst of planning a beautiful wedding. But on the eve of saying their vows, they are thrown into chaos and devastation when the family matriarch, Sophie, passes away unexpect-

edly.

Things to keep in mind when considering funeral cover: 1. Understand the purpose of funeral cover A funeral plan will pay out the pre-determined amount as per your agreed policy documentation, which should be used to cover funeral costs.

Some policies will include extras such as food, airtime etc. What is important to note is that a funeral plan will not be enough to cover your family’s ongoing needs.

2. Know the difference between life insurance and funeral cover A funeral policy will not help take care of your loved ones after you pass away. This is where life insurance becomes crucial. Keep in mind that most financial services companies require a medical certificate when you apply for life insurance. This is not a requirement for a funeral plan.

3. Know your options Do some research and understand what the various kinds of funeral cover offer, their benefits and their exclusions. For example, some will cover a number of family members, but this has to be stipulated in your contract.

When deciding on the best funeral cover for you and your loved ones, re-

member that the cheapest policy is not always the best suited policy to your needs so pay particular attention to specific benefits.

How to claim on a funeral policy 1. Report the death of your loved one You need to report the death at the nearest Home Affairs office or at your preferred funeral parlour. A Death Report is issued after the death is regis-

tered. Once Home Affairs has received the relevant forms they will issue a Death Certificate. Send this to your insurer to activate the funeral cover. This certificate is also required to close bank accounts of the deceased as well as to inform pension providers.

2. Important documentation Notify your insurance provider that your loved one has passed away. Once informed, your insurer will provide the

necessary documentation that you need to fill in, such as the Claims Form and Beneficiary Form. The beneficiary will be required to complete the following documentation when making a claim: · Certified copy of death certificate · Copies of ID or passport of the deceased as well as the beneficiary or a copy of the birth certificate if younger than 18 · Proof of banking details of the beneficiary or estate.

Once completed, you need to submit all these documents to your service provider. This can be done electronically via email, fax or physically at a branch. Thipe concludes, “As a responsible business, it is our role to be there when our customers need our support the most. In 2016 we paid out over R2 billion in claims to clients, and with a policy that starts at only R31 per month - can you afford not to be covered?”

For more information, visit our website today. Watch When Death Calls every Thursday on Ligwalagwala FM at 10:30am, Lesedi FM at 10:15am, Motsweding FM at 10:53am, Umhlobo Wenene FM at 10:45am, Thobela FM at 12:50pm or on Wednesdays on Ukhozi FM at 14:20pm.

4

Inner-city Gazette

31 May - 7 June 2018

City undertakes R52 million public upgrades

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

T

he Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has appointed Boitshoko Construction Road & Surfacing to start with the construction stage of the first phase of Merafe Railway Station project.

The R26 million Railway Station upgrade started this month and will be completed in October 2019. The project is expected to employ six SMME’s and use local labourers.

The project is part of the City of Joburg’s initiative to improve public transport facilities in all the seven regions. The main objective of this project is to upgrade pedestrian walkways connecting to all Metrorail stations in Soweto to improve pedestrian mobility to allow for safer movement between different amenities and integration with the public transport facilities. The upgrade

will also include street lighting and services enhancement where required.

Scope of work will also include drainage, sidewalks, kerbs and paving, street lighting, landscaping.

The JDA will also upgrade Mzimhlophe Railway Station for R26 million to improve pedestrian mobility. The appointed contractor Bophelong Construction has already started with the construction stage of the first phase and expected to employ six SMME’s and utilise local labourers. The project will be completed next year.

Scope of work will also include drainage, sidewalks, kerbs and paving, street lighting, landscaping. The project will be phased based on budget availability The overall aim of the project to allow for safer movement between different amenities and integration with the public transport facilities, says Christo Botes, the JDA CEO.

JMPD’s new shift system to boost officer morale

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

F

ollowing years of deliberations, the City is happy to announce that the Local Labour Forum (LLF), finally agreed and signed the new framework and shift system for all employees that are ordinarily expected to work shifts.

This has been on the City’s agenda since 2008. This collective agreement

is in line with basic conditions of service. The agreement includes a five shift system from the shift chapter, where different Local Management Committees will deliberate on and choose the suitable shifts for their respective departments.

Member of the Mayoral Committee for Group Corporate and Shared Services in the City of Joburg, Cllr Ntombi Khumalo, applauded all parties for deliberations and agreement on this shift

chapter.

“I’m extremely excited to announce that the JMPD Police Chief David Tembe will hit the ground running with JMPD having already chose to work the four days in and four days out shift system starting on 01 July 2018.

Due to the intensity and the nature of their work, it is important that our employees in this space get enough rest and still meet their required hours,” said MMC Khumalo.

MMC for Public Safety, Cllr Sun who played a crucial role in the deliberations towards this agreement was also in attendance. Expressing his reaction to this milestone MMC Sun said “We heard the cries of our own staff members in JMPD and we are determined to make sure that the revised shift chapter be implemented.

“The new shift system will now see our officers work twelve hours a day for four days and rest for four days,

whereas previously they would work eight hours.

The new shift system will allow them to be revitalised and well rested to come back and tackle the crime and grime in the City.”

MMC Khumalo said she was encouraged by the positive attitude and commitment shown by all members of the forum and the good spirit displayed in the meeting when dealing with issues affecting employees.

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31 May - 7 June 2018

Inner-city Gazette

5

EFF Joburg responds to Budget Speech

T

he only Diphethogo in this budget speech is that it was tabled by MMC Ngobeni(auti ya kasi) than MMC Daggada(auti ya Born in Alexandra) but the more things remain the same. There only change is that of the firing and hiring in the Mayoral committee and not the real change in the life of our people.

We just wondering who the next MMC to go? Let us all wait for the press conference and media statement from the Mayor, you will be convinced that I am sangoma but this term will not end without another MMC being fired. Comrade Councilor Makhubo- ke yona koppie dice kaMjiba.

Badlala kaJozi I would like to take this opportunity by passing a message from the EFF in noting the sad news of the passing away of Fighter Siphiwe Mapuolo from ward 114 who passed away on the 24th May 2018 at Zandspruit Clinic after a short sickness. Also the passing away of Fighter Mary Mashinini son Jacob Ntate Mooka from ward 81 and Fighter Phumulani Nkomo from Ward 51 in Zola.

They passed on without dignity, black people still don’t have their land back. I am mentioning this because Fighter Simphiwe Mapuolos family can’t even afford R1900.00

to buy him a piece of land in Lions Park cemetery where they can bury him in dignity.

A black person will forever be humiliated until the end of time in South Africa hence the EFF call for the expropriation of land without compensation for equal redistribution.

May the soul of our gallant fighters rest in revolutionary peace and we will carry on the spear until we achieve economic freedom in our lifetime. Our engagement of this budget speech, MMC it is rich with lots of tariff increment, uyakhuphula uyakhuphula awudlali ubuya ngokuzolala, you just remind us of one Magician who has left us with the Gigabite Legacy. He increased tax by 1% then he vanished back to Home Affairs.

We are going to reject these proposed increments of tariffs. This budget comes at a backdrop of our leadership receiving a renewed mandate from 123 solid branches representing over 91% of the wards in Johannesburg. Only the mighty EFF can host 5 successful Regional Peoples Assemblies without a drop of blood or a loss of life to demonstrate our level of maturity and unity in waging war against Capitalism.

Our response to your speech MMC is powered by an unflinching vote of confidence our Chairperson and his collective received over the weekend in the RPA. Amongst Resolutions adopted by our highly successful Regional People’s Assembly is to be resolute in swaying the City to the left. Swaying the City to the left means according to the resolutions of our successful people assembly we must accelerate the insourcing of service delivery, build capacity City, accelerate the expropriation of land and abandoned buildings in the City, provide free

water, electricity and municipal services to families earning less than R10 000 per month, building mining and beneficiation capacity in the City, establishing industrial zones to boost job creation, constructing a City led student town characterized

by City sponsored student accommodation, electrification of townships and informal settlements, reversing apartheid spatial planning patterns by providing service stands in Kelvin, Lombardy and other historically white apartheid ivory towers, providing 24 hour clinic services, building community centered libraries, a coherent black economic development strategy which encapsulates formalizing the food market and taxi industries, infrastructure development, building safe economies and creating a clean City! EFF notes the Job Seekers Database as proposed by the City and calls on its mandate to include it being developed into an incubation that will recruit and train resources that will be distributed to insourced road-works, building, refuse removal, grass cutting, security, and cleaning services.

EFF notes the electrification and provision of water to informal settlements and call on the city to provide a concrete plan that commits this administration to electrify and provide water to all homes by 2021.

To this end, EFF calls on the City to accelerate the portioning of the expropriated land in Kelvin.

It has been over 18 months since this Council passed the EFF sponsored motion of expropriating that land.

Our patience is running dry on this issue, if no progress is made on this matter, we might move in and do your job of providing settlement to our people. Speaker, the apportioning of Kelvin’s 3 Million square meter into 600 square meter serviced

stand, can house 5000 families.

We give the City a month to provide us with a project plan on the Kelvin Land.

How are you going to ensure that the 152 000 people on the housing waiting list are given houses when you fail to expropriate land? EFF notes the City’s view on the expropriation of abandoned buildings, and to this end call on the City to mandate JoshCo to refurbish the buildings and convert them to affordable housing and student accommodation. We believe that a better-managed JoshCo with focused leadership, headed by a CEO who doesn’t behave as if he’s a law unto himself can drive the rejuvenation of Joburg.

Speaker, the MMC has indicated that R120 million has been budgeted for the 2018/2019 financial year to provide 200 serviced sites onto which beneficiaries can be settled with full ownership.

The people of ward 20 in Naledi have identified land in Protea Glen Ext 16 Ward 135 and what was the Citys response to poor people? It responded by unleashing JMPD with Teargas and rubber bullets, black on black violence, we are not giving our people hope.

It can’t be that we have almost 190 informal settlements in Jozi-Mjiba Johannesburg.

MMC Meshack Van Wyk, my predikant, there is no time for settling into your new job but you need to hit the ground running.

I don’t know why the Mayor continues to deploy short people into this office of housing, clearly Councilor Dan Bovu, your boots are too big to filled. Speaker, the EFF vehemently, unreservedly, unapologetically and ferociously rejects the proposed increases in water, electricity, sewerage, sanitation and refuse removal increases.

If the City wants to close the gap of withheld funding by the national government, the focus should be on an accentuated focus into tracking businesses that evade paying for services.

Recently the Mayor announced the recouping of millions from ABSA, that was brilliant work done and the City must focus on that. Currently as things stand the poor are funding the rich and businesses.

We call on the creation of a nonbribe taking rates evasion busting unit tasked with visiting every business premise in Joburg including Luthuli House and recoup monies robbed from the poor. Speaker, the City must look into self-funding initiatives. Amongst the initiatives we propose are; · The recapture of Lenseria Airport from the current franchised arrangement. The Airport can boost the city’s revenue and bring vibrancy to the economy. · Recapture ICT infrastructure, which includes fibre distribution and rent to business. · Recapture and resuscitate Egoli Gas to compete with electricity generation. · Establish the Joburg Mining Company to take over abandoned mines and spearhead the mineral beneficiation program.

We note Diphethogo in principle and as a cause. We however call on it to be contextualized against the immediate need to improve our people’s lives.

This administration is approaching two years in office and growing too slow in changing lives.

The Mayor must be courageous and confront the sabotage waged by inherited bureaucracy. Issued by: Silumko Mabona EFF Joburg Regional Secretary

Charlotte Maxeke Hospital on lockdown

V

iolent scenes outside Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg have surfaced on social media on Thursday as property was torched, apparently by staff members.

According to the reports, the hospital shut down after the property was set alight

and entrances were blocked.

It was also said that patients were threatened.

According to a post on Twitter, hospital staff were protesting over grievances, which include the non-payment of overtime.

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Egyptian former Bidvest Wits striker Amr Gamal returned to South Africa to attend the awards and took the Telkom Knockout Player of the Tournament

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

P

ercy Tau, the Mamelodi Sundowns attacking dynamo whose performances earned him rave reviews this season walked away with the coveted 2017/18 PSL Footballer of the Season award.

This was announced at the PSL Awards on Tuesday night. The Footballer of the Season is voted exclusively by the 16 Premier Division coaches.

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Mamelodi Sundowns mentor, Pitso Mosimane was awarded the Absa Premiership Coach of the Season award.

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