MALALANE – The Nkomazi Municipality gathered to protest against xenophobia, human trafficking, gender-based violence, HIV/Aids and other social ills, last weekend.
This came to light during the intermunicipal multilateral protocol between the Matola, Mbabane, Mbombela and Nkomazi municipalities.
The executive mayor of Nkomazi, Cllr Thulisile Khoza, said the purpose was to foster a formidable task team to address challenges that affected the people of the region.
“Our goal for this gathering is to promote mutual respect and understanding of the culture and traditions of citizens of each municipality, including cultural exchange programmes, and to establish a communal festivity for each calendar year, that will involve the signatories according to approved plans.
“We also want to create a formidable task force among the municipalities to address challenges that affect the good health of the citizens by providing, sharing and disseminating preventive, mitigating and curative measures,” Khoza said.
“We also want to promote business opportunities and local economic development among the four cities and establish exchange programmes for councillors on matters of common interest in municipal governance.
“We also hope to establish youth-and-women empowerment programmes on matters of governance and development.
“We also seek to promote technical, administrative and management skills exchange, with more focus on environmental health, planning issues, investment promotions, and culture, tourism and financial programmes.”
The gathering lasted for three days and was closed off by the signing of a declaration by all four mayors.
