Transforming service delivery: Mayor Chris Pappas's vision for uMngeni Municipality
uMngeni mayor Chris Pappas has outlined his vision for service delivery.
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ENSURING that every community “gets something” in the form of service delivery has been the central pillar in the governing of the uMngeni Local Municipality.
This is according to Mayor Chris Pappas, who said that since taking over the running of the municipality in the last local government elections, he has ensured that each year, every ward in the municipality sees new projects being implemented.
“We are a small municipality, and there are budget constraints in delivering services, so the community might not always get what they want, but we work to ensure that every year, each ward gets something from the budget,” said the Mayor.
Pappas spoke to The Mercury about his time in the municipality and the progress that has been achieved to date. The municipality was recently credited as one of the top performers when it comes to ensuring access to services. He outlined several achievements, including setting up new departments in the municipality that allow it to function optimally while pushing for more community participation in the municipality’s economy.
“I don’t make promises that I cannot keep. It is more acceptable to go back to the community to engage than having done something for them. For instance, I believe there must be equitable service delivery, not equal service delivery, because communities have different needs. There are communities that have gravel roads, but (their urgent demand), they just want streetlights; that is what we deliver.
“As the mayor, I work to ensure that each time I go back to engage with communities, there is something that I can point to in every community that ‘this is what the municipality has done in the community’. I want to be able to say that while I may not have been able to build the community a hall, I was able to install a streetlight and Wi-Fi infrastructure that served the entire community.
“For instance, we are probably the only municipality in the country that offers refuse collection services to communities that live on farms. When I speak of equitable service delivery, I mean ensuring that the community at least gets what they need at that time.
He personally keeps track of the work that needs to be done and the to-do list that needs to be finished.
Pappas showed The Mercury at least five notebooks filled with notes that he has personally made on the to-do list in the municipality that are kept in his office. ‘This is a to-do list of the things that I want to have done; the to-do list never gets smaller.’
“He said another issue he has had to deal with was the failure of the executive teams to implement and instead make excuses. ‘What we have had to deal with is a situation where the executives will keep telling you that something has not been implemented because the regulations said this or that.
“What I have done is to ensure that such excuses are not accepted. Each time an executive would say such a project has not been implemented because of the regulations, I will say to them, ‘bring the regulations so we can read them together,’ and I would tell them what the constitution says and that the constitution is the overarching document, meaning that things have to be implemented based on the constitution as well as the regulations that govern the process of local government. Doing that has led to many things being implemented, speeding rather than having ensured excuses.
He said his administration has worked to ensure that the community knows and feels that the municipality belongs to them.