Pretoria – Newly re-elected Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Mondli Gungubele has declared war against any form of xenophobia in the area.
“Xenophobia of any guise will not be tolerated and we are going to do everything in our power to make sure it never rears its ugly head in this City again,” warned Gungubele.
Commenting on recent media reports about isolated incidents of attacks on foreign business people, mainly from unstable sub-Saharan countries, operating in some Ekurhuleni townships, Gungubele said the so-called entrepreneurs who deem it fit to resort to violence when they cannot compete on grounds of price and service are not worthy of being referred to as entrepreneurs.
“An entrepreneur is one who sets in place systems and processes that makes them competitive regardless of what the competition may be offering. A business person that threatens to resort to violence when she or he cannot compete is not capable of succeeding under any circumstances,” he said.
Speaking during his acceptance speech of his mayoral re-election on Wednesday, Gungubele sent a clear message to all new councillors to immediately roll up their sleeves and work tirelessly towards improving the lives of the people of Ekurhuleni as per the mandate they have been given by the voters in the local government elections last week.
“The masses of our people have played their part by electing us into office, they have pinned their hopes on us … now let us go back to work,” stressed Gungubele.
He further noted that the events of the past year have an influence on those of another year and what happens during one administration and term of office has importance for the succeeding one.
“If mistakes have been committed, they should be corrected. If policy has proven to be sound, it should be supported.”
He said that during the election campaign, he was exposed to the best and the worst the country, province and municipality have to offer.
“It was as a consequence of the campaign, that we were able to discover – to our general embarrassment – that the issue of unenclosed toilets is a far more serious and involved problem than we had previously imagined.
“In our specific case as Ekurhuleni, we got to meet with and discover communities in which we too have not done as well as we thought we had in respect of water and sanitation provision. We got to know our communities better and in the process, we got to confirm our long-held suspicions that there exists an entrenched network of slumlords in many informal settlements,” he said. – BuaNews
