Pretoria - Residents and informal traders around the City of Tshwane are confident newly elected executive mayor Stevens Mokgalapa will steer the city in the right direction.
Mokgalapa took the opportunity within a day of being elected unopposed, to take the time to talk to Tshwane residents about some of the key issues they had or wanted dealt with by him during his term in office.
He started off his activities this morning at the Hinterland Clinic in Mamelodi, then took a walk-about with representatives of the informal traders around Marabastad in the CBD.
During the walk he took time to speak to a few of the informal traders who told him of the issues of permits, water and sanitation, as well as a lack of storage for their goods.
Vincent Matjeng, treasury general from the Unified South African Traders Union, said they were going to offer their full support behind the new mayor as they trusted him and he appeared to be a "man of his word".
Informal trader Sylvia Mabaso speaks to new executive mayor Stevens Mokgalapa during his walk-about in Marabastad. Video: Goitsemang Tlhabye
Matjeng said they were not saying the former mayor, Solly Msimanga, did not do an outstanding job during his reign of the capital city, if anything he said he believed the former mayor faced a lot of "sabotage".
“If we support the mayor nothing will stop him but if we don’t then all progress will not happen in Tshwane. So we’re not going to allow anyone to use our names to take chances to attack him and we will deal with them should they try.”
“Anyone who takes over the city whether they are from the EFF, ANC, DA or even the FF+ we will support them. Because we have nothing to do with politics, this for us is our livelihood and our businesses.”