THE metro hails the international One Goal education initiative as having the potential to unite various stakeholders globally.

MUNICIPALITY invest in an eco-friendly fire station, a fleet of emergency vehicles and new recruits for its reserve force in an effort to beef up capacity.

AN independent survey commissioned by the metro shows that number of property rates accounts has increased significantly in the past three years.

NEW innovations at the licensing department are aimed at ensuring fast, efficient service and are part of the municipality’s broader plan to maximise use of facilities.

NEW public health by-laws to be actively enforced by environmental health inspectors with powers to issue fines for transgressions such as illegal dumping.

THE metro is working on boosting capacity of all its health facilities to ensure that they are ready to receive and assist patients for ARV treatment.

THE municipality’s Grants-in-Aid are allocated annually and sustain various organizations involved in the arts, education, social, sport and local economic development.

THE municipality views community-based agriculture as a critical component in its ongoing effort to fight poverty and unemployment.

The municipality is taking an aggressive approach to deal with illegal posters as previous warnings have had very little success.

The municipality decided to increase its capital budget to ensure faster delivery of services to the communities of this region.

NEW revenue collection unit is already at work recovering outstanding monies from all customers and monitoring all accounts on a regular basis.

COUNCIL has adopted an open-door policy in an attempt to fast track property development in the metro area.

THE municipality has made huge strides in achieving the goals of the National Strategic Plan on HIV/Aids.

THE Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has allocated millions of rands to improve the lives of people living in informal settlements.

The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality wishes to notify residents and sporting bodies in the region of the closure of Boksburg North Swimming pool over the winter months.

A SPECIALISED team has been deployed in Ekurhuleni to assist the metropolitan municipality accelerate the provision of services, infrastructure development and to deal with outstanding disputes.

THE Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s valuation roll for properties within its boundaries is complete and ready for inspection by property owners. The document, which details the value of every property in the region, will be available for inspection from March 09 and the new rates will be implemented from July 1, 2009.

HUNDREDS of athletes from Ekurhuleni and Gauteng are expected to put on their running shoes to take part in the annual Ekurhuleni Half Marathon and 10km road race.

THE Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality will on Wednesday host a Mayoral Breakfast to raise funds for the purchase of artificial limbs for a seven-year-old KwaThema girl.

THE city will focus on increasing visible policing in the build up to the biggest soccer spectacular to hit South Africa.

A NIGEL-based company is investing about R15 million on its assembly plant to get it up to scratch to facilitate the Gautrain project.

THE Ekurhuleni Municipality is hosting a series of tourism workshops to assist emerging entrepreneurs

MAYOR Lentheng Mekgwe has vowed to place her energies and skills at the disposal of the community she serves.

THE municipality has budgeted for the revamp of 64 informal sports fields by 2010 as part of its contribution to the development of football.

THE municipality has launched a "Back to School" campaign to help destitute school children in the region.

The Take Charge campaign encourages community members to empower themselves by getting involved in making their neighbourhoods safer.

The Take Charge campaign encourages community members to empower themselves by getting involved in making their neighbourhoods safer.

The Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa gives the municipality's waste division a merit award for outstanding work.

The municipality is spending over R70 million to replace a fleet of old buses and hopes to get a further 22 new buses in the current financial year.

The metro is currently drafting an informal trading policy document which is aimed at providing guidelines that will be acceptable to all sectors of the economy.

The metro's executive mayor Duma Nkosi recently reported back to the community on the local authority's current status, its accomplishments and future goals.

The Gauteng government is to launch a programme to provide viable accommodation, with security of tenure, for people living in backyard shacks in 20 designated townships. The multi-billion rand Top 20 Townships programme will be officially launched on Wednesday, 13 September.

As part of its drive to attract business to Ekurhuleni, the metro council has convened a major summit to discuss ways of attracting and retaining business.

The people of Ekurhuleni celebrated Women's Month with art and music at the annual Vuka Basadi Craft Fair on Sunday,13 August.

In February, Premier Mbhazima Shilowa announced a R3-billion project to give a facelift to about 20 townships in the province of Gauteng over a period of three years. Residents in Duduza, Ekurhuleni will be the first to benefit.

A comprehensive long-term plan to accelerate the delivery of houses and eradicate all informal settlements in Ekurhuleni has been unveiled.

"Air quality is a problem worldwide and Ekurhuleni is no exception," said city manager Paul Maseko at the launch of the Metro's Air Quality Management (AQM) Plan.

The country's second Regional Electricity Distributor (RED) will be launched early next year. Municipalities that will benefit from Red Two include Ekurhuleni and Mangaung.

In its quest to provide a healthier environment for all residents, the Ekurhuleni Municipality has installed two air-quality monitoring stations.

Unveiling the Metro's budget for the 2005/2006 financial year on Thursday, 26 May, Executive Mayor Councillor Duma Nkosi said the budget sought to deal with a myriad challenges.

The Ekurhuleni Metro has faced up to the challenge of tackling the HIV/Aids pandemic with a multipronged approach - involving both residents and municipal employees.

Ekurhuleni Mayor Duma Nkosi announced that the council had resolved to prioritise and fast track the delivery of houses for those who have been on the list since 1996 and 1997.

Gauteng Development Planning and Local Government MEC Trevor Fowler has launched a R18 million project to provide clean water and proper sanitation to some communities on the East Rand, including Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council.

Ekurhuleni's Executive Mayor Duma Nkosi has once again launched the Budget Tips campaign, in which the residents are invited to forward their inputs and suggestions for spending priorities during for the 2004/2005 Financial Year.