I had the honour of meeting the new Mogale City Executive Mayor, Lynn Pannall, in her office.
I met Pannall as an ordinary citizen. This has proven that she has an open-door policy. And I hope the trappings of power won’t change that.
Pannall is friendly, warm and welcoming. She is also an open book: what you see is what you get. But more importantly: she’s a hard worker: she starts working at 4am and goes to bed after 10pm. For a person of her age, she should be taking it easy.
During our meeting, we’ve discussed a number of issues, ranging from politics to labour to social. What I liked the most was that the Mayor was open and frank in our engagements. She had nothing to hide, I suppose.
The new Executive Mayor is facing a myriad of challenges she has to deal with. The billing issue is one of the challenges, which she has inherited from the previous administration. But she’s very optimistic that the problem will be solved in the end, though at a high financial cost.
Pannall has also brought stability to the labour front, she revealed. Certain employees were unsettled by the change of regime, and understandably so. However, she has met and reassured them that she’s not against them but for them. They now seem to be comfortable, she said.
She’s also had to deal with the land grab challenge in Kagiso Extension 13. A few weeks ago, just after the local government elections, residents were illegally given land by some unscrupulous individuals who wanted to cause havoc. I suspect the move was politically motivated. However, the matter has since been resolved.
Still in Kagiso Extension 13. The unoccupied and unallocated RDP houses in that area remain a challenge for the municipality. Those houses are earmarked for the Tudor Shaft (near Kagiso 1) residents because they are exposed to a health challenge. However, the Kagiso residents also want to be allocated houses there. So there is an impasse.
The new Executive Mayor of Mogale City, who has more than 10 years’ experience as councillor, has her hands full. Pannall, who runs a busy schedule, appears to be afraid to fail as Mayor and let the citizens down.
Will she deliver? Only time will tell. It was nice meeting her, I must say.
