Patriotic Alliance once again shines in Eldos

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) has proven themselves once again that they are voice of the people and will continue making a change in Eldorado Park.  Both ward 17 and 18 were won by them. Councillor (Cllr) Juwariya Kaldien won Ward 18 and Cllr Dwain Ponsonby ward 17 . While former ward 17 and 18 Cllr Peter Rafferty has been selected as a Proportional Representative (PR) Councillor for Region G and PA member Debbie Rayners as PR Cllr. A total of six PR seats have been won by the party in council. 

Eldorado Times took the opportunity to interview  four of the councillors and this is what they had to say:

 

Ward councillors Kaldien and Ponsonby:

 

ET: How do you feel you won?

JK: Once again this was an outright Majority win. The Voters have shown that they trust & believe in me. I'm humbled. 

DP: Firstly thanks to everyone that went out and voted for us and trusting us with your votes, it's really a humbling feeling to win knowing that change for our people is the top of my priority list.

 

ET: What are the changes you intend to make?

JK: I'll work harder than what I did in the last 5 months, I'll give better service delivery. 

DP: Eldos especially ward 17 needs a lot of development and this is my target area, development and empowerment firstly of our people and also our infrastructure that's in a state of disrepair because of lack of maintenance and development.

Cllr Dwayne Ponsonby

 

ET: What are the current issues you been facing ?

JK: There are no current issues besides Eldorado park will finally have fibre. Over 400 Coloureds will be employed by Omega Fibre. 

DP: Current issues and difficulties in our communities is the great lack in service delivery, increase in crime because of unemployment and the spiking scourge of infrastructure damage and theft.

 

ET: What is your message to young people?

JK: Your only true failure is when you stop trying. 

DP: My message to the youth will always our time is here now let's stand together and fight all the obstacles we facing and jump all the hurdles we faced such as unemployment and the lack of skills development and growth. It’s our time to change the playing fields and grab onto every opportunity that arise to empower and build ourselves and rebuild our fallen walls in our community.

 

ET: How does drugs, and alcohol affect the community ?

JK: Our community is infested with drugs, unemployment is one of the biggest effects. 

DP: Drugs and Alcohol affects every community in South Africa currently and cannot be properly addressed because law enforcement fails us when it comes to this. It breaks up families and cripples communities yet it’s not taken serious.

 

Cllr Juwariya Kaldien

ET: What has been your challenge with our current virus - Covid-19?

JK: Biggest Challenge is development within our community due to the virus. 

DP: Covid-19 affected everyone, people are now jobless, companies closed down and lives lost, it became very challenging for most of our people to even address bread and butter issues and because of this we saw an increase in crime and our people being displaced because of not being able to pay rent and survive. We should really look at contingency plans and strategies better in order to be better prepared for when next a virus like this hits our communities.

 

ET: What is your number that people can get hold of you on ?

JK: 0636829503

DP: 0813960900

 

PR councillors Rafferty and Rayners:

 

Cllr Peter Rafferty

ET :How do you feel if you have stepped up to PR councillor?

PR: This is a party position, as such if you do it properly it needs to result in the growth of the party. So it's not really a step up but more of taking more responsibility.

DR: It’s an overwhelming feeling honestly, I have mixed emotions , knowing that our people are going through o benefit more makes me feel abit at ease as we now have the opportunity to change certain things within the community and in the city.

 

ET: What are the changes you tend to see within Region G?

PR: Driving the sports council to revive sports within the region. Ensure to put emphasis on getting our share of the budget as region G is one of the poorest regions. Also together with officials ensure that community involvement in processes becomes the norm.

DR: The main change I’d love to see in the community is cleanliness, our communities are filthy which makes it very difficult for us to actually see where we need growth one other main aspect is employment, 80% of our population are currently unemployed making it hard for one to make ends meet so we need more people employed and that way many will be able to change their lifestyles and way of thinking.

Cllr Debbie Rayners

ET: How do you intend to fight the battle of drugs, alcohol, women and child abuse ? 

PR: Through various partnerships with religious structures, NGOs and sports/Arts and culture organizations we should be able to make a huge dent in our fight against substance abuse.

DR: We as a collective need to understand that this fight is not ours we need to install into our kids especially the youth that they need prayer and God to fight this , it’s a spiritual battle like I said if our lifestyles change we will spend less time searching and seeking for happiness eg Alcohol and drugs we can also build rehabilitation centres and centres for women and kids to attend etc.

 

ET: What are the challenges you will face ?

PR: Opposition from political parties and sometimes resources to implement visible changes. However that should never be as deterrent as I am striving to create partnerships. 

DR: Negativity that’s one of my mine challenges and to change how people think so we can work collectively towards the future.

 

ET: What is your message to young people ?

PR: More young people need to get involved in how our wards are run but also educate themselves on processes. Those that have business minds must make use of the city's opportunity centre's to prosper. 

DR: Stay focused and dream big , the world has lots of opportunities awaiting you , focus on your school and make it a priority to pray daily. 

 

ET: What are you responsibilities as a PR Cllr?

PR: As indicated my role will be to grow the party in areas where we not so visible and show the PA difference.

DR: PR cllr is different than Ward in that PR is deployed by the party as such in I need to represent our party's mandate in our communities.

 

ET: What is the number people can contact you on?

PR:  0733686948.

DR: 0625081831