‘People’s councillor’ recognised for his work in Alex
ALEXANDRA - The Democratic Alliance has recognised the outstanding work done of one of its cadres in Alexandra.
For his tireless work within Alexandra, Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor, Shadrack Mkhonto has been voted the best councillor of the year within his party’s councillors who work in the City of Johannesburg.
Mkhonto walked away with an undisclosed amount of money, as well as an award.
“I have been recognised as the councillor who has gone the extra mile in the service of my community and driving the issues that affect the residents of Alexandra. It’s an honour for me to receive this award,” said Mkhonto, who has been featured in Alex News time and time again for repairing poor people’s potentially collapsing houses, fixing leaking roofs, fixing residents’ toilets and blocked drain systems and also being on the forefront of the still unresolved debacle of Ext 9 and 10 in which the former Alexandra Renewal Project created the fuedalistic system of landlord and tenant when allocating the flatlets in the area in 2010.
Despite his efforts over many years to get this corrected by council, the City of Johannesburg has failed to come up with a solution and the people of Ext 9 and 10 are up in arms against each other.
Mkhonto went as far as petitioning the council and this, too, has been neglected by the City – and the hearing of the petition is constantly being deferred from one to another.
Mkhonto received the award on 19 April at the caucus of DA by the party’s chief whip, ward councillor Graham de Kock for, among other things, hiring plumbers to build resident’s toilets, organising materials to rebuild burnt shacks, and arranging food parcels for the victims of fires, as well as organising accommodation for these fire victims.
Dubbed as the ‘people’s councillor’, Mkhonto will stand for Ward 105 in the forthcoming municipal elections scheduled for 3 August. “I would love to be the ward councillor and have full authority over that ward in order to make even more meaningful changes that impact people’s lives,” Mkhonto said.
