By Cilliers Brink
It is that time of the year when families come together to celebrate the festive season. It is a perfect time to show love, compassion, and forgiveness and to help the needy where we can.
In the spirit of giving and spreading Christmas cheer, the City of Tshwane embarked on a R100 000 Mayoral Christmas charity donation drive in Hammanskraal, where we offered a helping hand to two non-governmental organisations who care for children and the elderly in Hammanskraal.
The first organisation we visited was Patricio Old Age Home, which cares for 109 elderly people who need comprehensive care. The home provides much-needed assistance with dignity and care for the elderly.
Of course, it would not be Christmas without gifts for the little ones, and so, we alsodonated gifts at Mbalinhle Daycare and Drop-in Centre. The centre cares for more than 80 children who need a safe space to learn and play.
We did this because we believe that every child deserves a happy and memorable Christmas. On this note, I want to thank all our corporate sponsors – Atterbury Trust, the Cavaleros Group, City Property, Vodacom and Nestlé – for their support, thus ensuring that we spread Christmas cheer during this holiday season.
As we are winding down, I want to thank all our employees for their hard work and commitment to serving Tshwane residents, especially in light of the many challenges that we faced this year.
2023 has indeed been a defining year for the City of Tshwane. However, despite the many challenges experienced, we remained strong and resilient in line with our constitutional mandate and ensured that we continue to work towards rescuing the City from financial ruin.
Our administration’s resolve to put the City on a sound financial footing saw us overcome an illegal strike that disrupted service delivery for too long. Now, as we get back to normalcy, I want to assure our residents that our multiparty government is committed to improving service delivery for all. We will work even harder next year to turn things around for the better.
One of the highlights this year is that we appointed a new top management team, including a new Chief Operations Officer and a Chief Financial Officer, to drive high performance and professionalism in the organisation. These senior managers are appointed on a permanent basis and will serve within the confines of the law and constitution of whichever democratically elected administration comes into power.
We have also made progress in our work to ensure an energy-secure future for Tshwane. The City is in the process of leasing Rooiwal Power Station and Pretoria West Power Station to revive their energy generation potential. We’ve also hosted a successful Mayoral Energy Sector Roundtable with industry experts on independence and alleviating the burden of load shedding.
Subsequent to this, a request for information was sent to potential Independent Power Producers in order to look at possible alternative energy solutions for our City.
We are also pushing ahead with the implementation of our new Urban Management Plan to drive services near key routes and landmarks of the city. There is already visible progress, and I would like to thank our teams who are on the ground daily, ensuring that services are being delivered.
The holiday season is a time when we are particularly grateful to those who cannot take time off to be with their families because they are taking care of all of us. These include medical staff, law enforcement officers and the fire services.
These extraordinary people will be on duty to ensure the continuation of services, and I would like to thank you for your commitment.
As we move into the new year, know this: Our administration remains committed to driving service delivery as a key foundation to building a city that works for all its people.
With that said, I trust that the holidays will bring you a chance to rest and recharge.
Let this season bring you and your loved ones a great deal of joy and peace.
To those who will be travelling, please always drive safely and responsibly. I hope that you will use the time off to reflect and relax, and that you come back refreshed and focused, with renewed optimism.
Happy holidays! Have a wonderful festive season. Stay safe and be blessed.
Pretoria News