Freedom Flame – 20 Years of Democracy

FREEDOM FLAME By Sithembile Monareng
On 19 March 2014 the freedom flame hailed the Amajuba District in celebration of 20 years of freedom
and democracy. The celebration was the major symbol of 20 years of democracy and the flame
symbolized the light prevailing over darkness.

MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dlomo in his capacity as champion of the Amajuba District together with the District
Mayor Cllr Jabu Khumalo and Newcastle Municipality Mayor Cllr Afzul Rehman celebrated with the people of Newcastle, highlighting service delivery achievements in our District.

“As the country celebrates 20 years of freedom and democracy, the flame presents an opportunity for us
to reflect on how our freedom and democracy was achieved and the achievements we have made over
the past 20 years. This moment affirmed the pride and dignity of our country and celebration of
humanity”, said Dr Dlomo.

Newcastle Municipality prides itself regarding all the achievements that has been made in the past 20 years, highlighting successful projects namely; Eco parks and outdoor gym, the Clifford Manana Bridge
(Asiphephe), KwaMathukuza housing projects, eTheku mall and other projects on the pipeline. He
acknowledged that more work still needs to be done to make Newcastle one town. – concluded Rehman

CCTV our Big Brother

CCTV cameras are a modern way for crime prevention. As the municipality staff and management we need to have some knowledge of how these cameras work.

During each shift our operators will stop a camera from auto-patrolling and will manually move the camera to check around the area of the camera. When it does happen that the camera does not pick up a partcular incident it will be due to the camera being on patrol, covering specific areas that were set manually for that specific camera to cover.

Warning tips to all of us:
1. If you hire/employ a gardener/domestic worker, you need to now where he/she lives and always ask and keep a photo copy of his/her identity book.
2. Do not leave your money under the seat of your car. The police are dealing with many of these cases.
3. Avoid giving out your ID number on the telephone to strangers.
4. Physically check if your car is locked. Do not rely on your remote control.

“Love them or hate them but they are there to protect you”

Blue Drop status

Newcastle boasts about the water quality and receiving 100% compliance in our drinking water and achieving Blue Drop Status. The upgrade and refurbishment of our wastewater facilities in Newcastle will undoubtedly place Newcastle at the fore even in green drop.

blue-drop-status

Newcastle embarks “On-Seperation” at source

The Newcastle Municipality has embarked on our effort to separate waste a source. The introduction of a two bag system is underway. Residents are in support of separation at source- there is on-going education on separation at source. The department has taken educating each an every household which is still in progress, educating of what goes into these two bags- recyclable dry waste into the coloured or clear bag and residue waste into the black bag. Residents receive a fridge magnet to inform them of what should and should not go into these bags.

School learner utilised to educate their community about separation at source and issuing of magnets. Staff distributing these two bags.

Newcastle has a very charismatic leadership who are very involved in upholding the status of the Greenest Municipality. The municipality has gone paperless- the Executive Committee meetings are all paperless-every councillor has been trained and uses his/her laptop at meetings. This has saved the municipality enormously-producing agenda which is a concept of the past. Agenda are now received in a drop-box. Councillors are also involved in a Cleanest Ward Competition which highlights efforts by councillors in starting of community gardens to offer food sustainability-especially in rural areas of Newcastle. This competition has recognised efforts of recycling with wards and general cleanliness and educating learners on the importance of a clean and healthy environment.

Newcastle Municipality is gone a step further by joining co-operatives with business ventures of recycling of PET (Polyethylene Terephatalate).
Newcastle Municipality has achieved zero PET into land-fill, it is one of the municipality’s in the country to effect zero waste of PET into landfill. These co-operatives have embarked on receiving PET not only from Newcastle, but from other parts of the country to convert the PET into woven fibre which is another product which is used in jackets, pillow cases and furniture.

 

Landfill Site

Landfill Site: Newcastle Landfill Site is a GMB+ site/Class 2 Landfill situated off the N11 on the Madadeni Road. The site is in the Amajuba District. The site boast about its site operations which is in compliance with regulations. The site is fully fenced, has a fully operational weighbridge and produces data for SAWIS, the site has boreholes which are monitored and results are measured against SANS 241 standards. The Site also deals with a large percentage of its biogenic waste through a waste diversion strategy. Most of the dry waste is also being diverted from site through an informal picking process. The site offers a methodology of sites similar in size to maximise out of the available airspace.

Adopt the River Project

Adopt the River Project was initiated following the concerns of litter settling from the Bus and Taxi Rank into the Ncandu River. The project was launched by DEA last week 14 August 2013. The project has created an opportunity for 49 individuals who will be trained to cleaning the river by removing all the waste that converges on the river bank and into the river. All recyclable waste will be diverted from the waste stream and the other will be landfilled. The project cost to all beneficiaries is in the amount of R442 000. On-going Environmental Awareness with our co-operatives such MTN and Pick n Pay are keen on partnering with the Municipality to address the issues regarding our social behaviour and responsibility to a sustainable environment. We have also had enormous support from Umgeni Water and DEA on this project.