Newly elected mayor spells out his plans for next five years

GEORGE NEWS - Residents were given an indication on Monday 22 November of where Leon van Wyk, the newly elected mayor, wants to take the city over the next five years.

"We need to craft a vision that benefits all of society in taking the economy of George forward: to encourage economic sectors that can grow jobs; and encourage investment, " he said in his first speech as mayor of the new council.

His election as mayor brought an end to months of uncertainty and speculation; at first about who the DA mayoral candidate would be and, after the DA failed to secure an outright majority in the local government elections on 1 November, whether it would be able to form a government.

After the elections Van Wyk got the green light as the DA mayoral candidate and the party signed an agreement with two other parties to form a coalition government.

In his speech on Monday, Van Wyk said he believes that the next five years present a critical opportunity for George's future to make its mark as a leading secondary city.

"To achieve this vision, we need to ensure that the basic services we provide to all our communities in terms of our constitutional mandate are being delivered at a high standard and that we continue to seek solutions to be more effective where necessary."

He referred to challenges the city are facing, including the housing shortage.

Van Wyk said in a super-human effort over the past eight months, the municipal manager and her team have secured a R1,1bn Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI) grant for George over four to five years to undertake essential water-related infrastructure.

This will benefit not only Pacaltsdorp and Thembalethu, but also enable economic growth to take place as the water treatment capacity will be increased by 50% to 60Ml per day.

Solutions must also be found for the major crisis affecting service delivery and the economy - that of the inconsistency of Eskom's electricity supply.

"It will be a key objective in the coming term to source alternative sources of electricity so that we can avoid at least stage 1 of load-shedding cycles - and hopefully another stage as well as we partner with private sector power producers," he said.

"We will therefore be driving economic activity in major sectors - such as agriculture, agri-processing, tourism and contact centres - and be engaging our stakeholders to understand their vision for the future of George.

To achieve these objectives, over these five years we will need to develop a common vision that can embrace our opportunities to help meet the ongoing challenges in our society.