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Newly elected Buffalo City Executive Mayor, Princess Faku, says there will be zero tolerance for incompetence, as she committed her new city administration to improving service delivery to residents.
She succeeds outgoing mayor, Xola Pakati, who resigned after being recalled by the ANC, after beating off the challenge of DA councillor Susan Bentley at a Special Council meeting on Thursday.
The Independent Electoral Commission said she won 62 of the 82 votes cast at City Hall.
In a wide-ranging acceptance speech, Mayor Faku said it was important to restore public confidence in the city’s administration, setting out several priorities that she said they will be focusing on.
The first of these would be to address the “billing issue” which she said continues to erode public trust in the city.
“We must ensure that the billing system is credible and reliable.”
Mayor Faku said Buffalo City Metro must also urgently address issues of vandalism, illegal electrical connections and cable theft affecting several communities.
Other priorities included cleaning and beautifying the Buffalo City Metro, fixing potholes and replacing broken streetlights and upgrading bulk infrastructure.
"We reaffirm our commitment to the social contract we have with our people. We must accelerate the delivery of basic services to residents of the City," Faku said.
“Today, we declare zero-tolerance on incompetence. As public officials we must be accountable. The public expects us to put their interests first, and we commit to doing exactly that,” she added.
