Mamela Gowa
The Daily Dispatch
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Past articles by Mamela:
ADM to turn off taps to recover R1bn debt
Cash-strapped and water-scarce Amathole district municipality, owed a combined accumulating R1bn by the government, businesses and residents for water services, is taking drastic measures to recover its debts. → Read More
ANC caucus told to pay R3.4m to promoter
The divided ANC caucus in the Buffalo City Metro council seems set on Wednesday to forge ahead with a decision to support the payment of R3.4m to boxing promoter Ayanda Matiti’s company for a tournament that took place last month. This comes after the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) led by provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi and spokesperson Stella Ndabeni on Sunday summoned the… → Read More
Fed-up road users fixing it themselves
Frustration with official neglect of Mdantsane’s economic hub has united the Highway CBD’s business community. Business owners and street vendors have teamed up with taxi owners and drivers, and they are doing their best to patch the potholes that damage their vehicles every day. The fed-up community accuse the metro of neglecting their complaints about → Read More
Top BCM official suspended over Mandela funeral scandal
Buffalo City Metro chief financial officer Vincent Pillay has been suspended over the Nelson Mandela funeral scandal. The decision was taken during a heated special council meeting held Wednesday where the Democratic Alliance called for a division vote on the matter as the party was against the move. However, the official opposition party lost the → Read More
Residents walk out of meeting
More than 100 furious East London residents walked out of a heated exchange during a stakeholders consultative meeting organised to discuss proposed geographical name changes in Buffalo City Metro yesterday. After BCM District Geographical Name Change Council (DGNC) coordinator Mntwabantu Matshoba shared some background information, livid residents were clear about their disapproval of the… → Read More
Scores storm out of name-change meeting
More than 100 Duncan Village residents walked out of a stakeholders consultative meeting organised to discuss the proposed geographical name changes in Buffalo City Metro today. The angry residents rejected the proposal stating that they did not care about the name changes and wanted the township to be cleaned first before the government can → Read More
BCM’s Nxarhuni name changes discussed
Non-Xhosa speakers and South African tourists have been encouraged to learn how to pronounce isiXhosa names as the consultation phase of changing Buffalo City Metro’s geographical names moved to ward 26 yesterday. Ward 26 – which includes Newlands, Macleantown, Potsdam East, Zikwaba, St Marys, Kwetyana, KwaMpundu and Nqonqweni – is one of the wards that → Read More
BCM hit by yet another 'land grab' frenzy
Just weeks after Buffalo City Metro mayor Xola Pakati issued a stern warning to land invaders saying the city was not a “banana republic”, the metro has been hit by yet another land grab frenzy – this time along the N2. Land invaders have built shacks along the N2 between the Mdantsane and Fort Jackson route. → Read More
Residents want street names first
The first Buffalo City Metro stakeholders consultative meetings for geographical name changes that started this week drew mixed reactions from residents. BCM took the meetings to Bhisho, King William’s Town, Dimbaza, Berlin and Zwelitsha on Monday and Tuesday to consult residents about the proposed geographical name change project to be implemented around the metro. Meetings → Read More
ANC councillors face BCM probe over funeral scandal
A new investigation committee has been established in Buffalo City Metro to probe two senior ANC councillors implicated in the Nelson Mandela funeral scandal. The two councillors, Luleka Simon-Ndzele and Sindiswa Gomba, will be investigated for violating the councillors’ code of conduct after public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane found that they, as well as former BCM → Read More
CFO must please explain or else ...
Troubled Buffalo City Metro chief financial officer Vincent Pillay will be granted seven days to explain why he should not be suspended as a result of the release of public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s report into the Nelson Mandela funeral scandal. This after the Eastern Cape ANC provincial executive committee took a decision earlier this → Read More
Jubilation as Pakati-led metro improves its audit
It was a day of applause and jubilation yesterday at a Buffalo City Metro council meeting as mayor Xola Pakati officially announced that the city had obtained an unqualified audit opinion from the auditor-general for the 2016-17 financial year –an improvement for the metro but it still has a long way to go to obtaining → Read More
Buffalo City de-fenceless
Concerned Buffalo City Metro residents have complained about brazen thieves who are stealing and stripping palisade fencing around some of the metro’s facilities. Some of the targeted facilities reported this week to the Saturday Dispatch by resident Nontuthuzelo Zuba include the Amalinda Stadium, the popular Marina Glen area where thieves have reportedly made off with → Read More
DA and EFF reject Mbula’s appointment
The Buffalo City Metro council this week appointed a head of department for the metro’s human settlements department after a long recruitment process which was re-started last year. Luyanda Mbula was appointed as the big boss of the troubled department despite the DA and EFF raising concerns. The appointment was made at a closed session → Read More
Councillors in BCM may receive 6% salary boost
Buffalo City Metro councillors are in line to get salary increases of up to 6%, backdated to July last year. At a special meeting today mayor Xola Pakati is expected to urge council to approve the recently gazetted salary increases, as well as allowances and benefits for its 100 councillors. The increase was published in → Read More
New electricity meter system on its way
Buffalo City Metro ratepayers are in for a major “new and smart” electricity metering project where 200 industrial and commercial sites will have their old electricity boxes replaced soon. The metro is trying to improve its revenue collection through its billing system while promising customers a better service. ising customers a better service. BCM spokesman → Read More
New hope for bypass project
The long-outstanding proposed Buffalo River Bridge and arterial road link between the N2 and R72 is set to cost more than R700-million after the Buffalo City Metro and South African National Road Agency Limited (Sanral) agreed that the project should be implemented in phases. This was revealed in a progress report tabled before council recently → Read More
Busload of woes for BCM
The wheels are falling off Buffalo City Metro’s municipal bus service and a new study could help to finally provide an answer about what to do with a public transport system that has failed. These conclusions are drawn from a damning report tabled before BCM council last month by the metro’s head of spatial planning → Read More
R7.7m centre on cards for Reeston
A R7.7-MILLION multipurpose centre is on the cards for Reeston residents which will offer community services including a hall, ward councillor’s office, a South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) office, a meeting room, storeroom, caretaker room, ablution blocks and sports field. Buffalo City Metro human settlements portfolio head councillor Ntombizandile Mhlola told the Daily Dispatch → Read More
BCM looks to Sweden for help with handling its solid waste
Two waste management projects will soon be implemented in Buffalo City Metro as a result of a newly established partnership between the city, the national Department of Environmental Affairs and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Municipal service portfolio head councillor Helen Neale-May said council had approved a visit by a team from BCM and the → Read More