Tag: STLM

What changes to STLM infrastructure/services are required for your business in the next five years?

What changes to STLM infrastructure/services are required for your business in the next five years?

The Middelburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry has requested the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality (STLM) to meet with businesses regarding input in the new Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for 2022 2027, which is being developed. This is in line with the Municipal Systems Act, Chapter 5, which requires municipalities to develop a new 5-year plan directly linked to the term of office of municipal councillors.

The Municipal Systems Act (2000) requires municipalities to prepare a 5-year Integrated Development Plan (IDP) that integrates planning and implementation and provides a framework for all development activities in the municipal area.

Contributions to the IDP have been sought at recent district committee meetings. Most attendees are local residents and are focused on their immediate needs, such as methods of speed calming on a busy residential street. Any business person who has attended scheduled Ward Committee meetings will have noted that the focus is not on a business-friendly agenda. What are general business needs in the CBD compared to the needs of the various other municipality areas where our businesses operate?

The STLM Local Economic Development Forum will hold the IDP meeting with business stakeholders on 5 April 2022 at 09:00 at the STLM Council Chamber.

We strongly encourage business owners to attend the above meeting to table any infrastructure or service delivery issues affecting your business. Is your business regularly affected by flooding due to inadequate stormwater drainage? Please attend and raise the issue. Or, if your business’ water supply is an issue, this is the best platform to get STLM to take note of business concerns. You know when there are municipal issues affecting your business. Still, if the issues are not included in the STLM’s communication structure, they seem to be off the table.

In light of recent events, the business community needs to pressure STLM officials and councillors to deliver on their promises.

We want our town back

We want our town back
It is the responsibility of every municipality to create an enabling environment for business. How many jobs and businesses will be displaced if municipal services are not accessible to the public and businesses? Is a job in the municipality more important than a job in the industrial area?

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his SONA speech that the role of businesses is essential to the country. Still, if we cannot register the vehicles sold, several businesses are affected. If we cannot complete the sale of a house, many businesses are affected. If there is a water shortage … and the story goes on. The business community depends on our municipal services to run optimally and without prejudice and malice. The management of Steve Tshwete Municipality must act quickly and solve the problems in their various departments.

In November 2021, MCCI offered its support in mediation to find a positive outcome to the strike that did not harm the community at large. As a collective, we have a lot of experience dealing with strikes and know how best to succeed. An example of this is the recent NUMSA strike in October 2021; thousands of workers were unhappy, many companies were affected, but there was a solution in the end. We expect nothing less from our local government. If we do not find a final solution soon, the unhappy working environment will not be solved. Those that have a role to play, the politicians, the management, SALGA and CoCGTA, must end the strike immediately.

There is a worrying wave of crime directed against our businesses and business premises. Vandalism and sabotage seem acceptable behaviour; where is SAPS, where is the discipline required to stop this? What do those involved think will happen if we continue down this disastrous path?

We want our town back. We want the town that won Masekane; we want the cleanest town in Mpumalanga, the one with the lowest crime rate and steady economic growth. We want the town where we talked to each other, regardless of political affiliation, history, or other identities that seemed essential to certain people. We want our town back.

How will businesses survive the current turmoil in our municipality?

 How will businesses survive the current turmoil in our municipality?

Since the mid-1980s, businesses and the community have had the opportunity to talk to each other and put the hard truth on the table so that we can survive as a community, whatever the future holds.

First, it was the COVID19 lockdown where it became the norm in government departments and local government to “work from home” or only work two to three days a week. Then there was the unrest in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng, Steve Tshwete Municipality’s (STLM) civil unrest in August, which escalated into the current unsustainable wage increase demand for STLM workers, which is a major concern for companies.

Business is used to working with the municipality. The STLM provides us with their services and we pay for what we use. Will businesses be quiet and accept the extra financial burden that will be placed on us? Will the infrastructure we depend on to be maintained at an acceptable level? How will we manage the additional cost of municipal services, cut jobs? Maintain the infrastructure at our expense? Police our properties and communities to ensure the safety of our people? Or are you as a business prepared to absorb these additional costs?

Is your company or employer a member of the Middelburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry? Do you want to be part of the solution that paves the way for the future, or do you accept the future that is being planned by the municipality. As a non-profit organisation, MCCI is a non-political organisation that only supports the interests of business. Contact the office with your vision and point of view on how you envision our future.

What can STLM learn from Clover

What Can STLM Learn From Clover

Shock waves went through the various towns around the country when they heard that Clover would be closing its cheese factory in Lichtenburg.
STLM is currently reviewing property tax rates and has already implemented price increases for waste, sewerage and electricity which will come into effect on 1 July. MCCI urges municipal decision-makers to remember that we need to fill all the empty commercial spaces in the city and not make more businesses implement work-at-home decisions or closure of branch offices due to service costs.

In Middelburg, we are fortunate that our Steve Tshwete Municipality works well and our services are up to standard. Other towns have lost manufacturing plants, such as the Nestle factories in Bethal and Standerton or other manufacturing facilities. In our region, the most significant blow to our manufacturing sector was the closure of Highveld Steel. The hardship of the plant closures has left a scar on our economy.

Commercial service providers need to keep in mind that if your services are too expensive and become too costly to run a business, they have two choices, stop using the service or cut costs. The service provider’s bill will be scrutinized, and they will look at where costs can be cut, costs in other areas or jobs will be cut. Alternatively, the business is relocated, sometimes to another country, and then we lose the jobs and all the other revenues that a business creates in the economy.

If the business remains the target for higher property taxes, refuge, electricity and sewerage costs, then the most negligible added cost could break the camel’s back. We in the Middelburg region are at risk from Eskom’s decisions on Komati and Hendrina Power Stations and the negative impact of the lockdowns since 2020. We need to attract businesses and investment and make our municipal services cost attractive to corporates to invest in the area.