Councillors on tight leash
"We want to encourage our officials to come up with tangible and achievable plans to improve the lives of the people we serve, regardless of race or political affiliation,"
The ANC Gert Sibande Region recently held its Regional Lekgotla at the Gert Sibande District Municipality where among topical issues were immediate service delivery in local municipalities.
Delivering his keynote address, regional chairman Muzi Chirwa said the ruling party would not tolerate non-performance and encouraged administrative officials to consider people’s needs in their plans.
“We want to encourage our officials to come up with tangible and achievable plans to improve the lives of the people we serve, regardless of race or political affiliation,” said Chirwa.
Chirwa also said councillors should be able to communicate clearly to the communities about projects that are budgeted for and those not budgeted for to avoid confusion and misunderstanding.
He also said in the next five years, municipalities had to work hard to move from disclaimer positions.
Chirwa added that all the local municipalities had to be assisted with revenue collection, because it would be difficult to deliver services when consumers were not paying for their services.
Chirwa also stressed that public participation and formidable ward committees should remain a key component to better relations and improved service delivery.
Speaking to the Highvelder after his keynote address, he said they were confident that after a successful induction of councillors, they were ready to hit the ground running, especially as most of them were not new to the system.
All councillors have already signed their contracts which, for the first time, include a job description outlining their duties in detail.
Chirwa said resignation letters had also been signed allowing the ruling party to recall councillors who underperform in terms of the contracts.
According to Chirwa, they would also work hard to root out corruption, especially in the supply chain departments, by ensuring proper procedures were followed correctly.
He concluded by saying when the right time came, the ANC in the province would lobby for Mpumalanga Premier
Mr David Mabuza to be part of the National Executive Committee.
He said the move would be supported, provided it would unite the organisation.
