MBOMBELA – The new executive mayor of the local municipality says any upheavals in council will only be announced at the end of the week.
Cllr Sibusiso Mathonsi, who has support across the board, was elected by council as the new mayor during a special council meeting yesterday afternoon.
An ANC councillor, Mathonsi’s election was supported by the entire 78-member council and he was elected unopposed. Each of the three opposition parties congratulated him. Caucus leader of the official opposition, Mr Jo Koster said they particularly looked forward to working with him.
Mathonsi said he would temporarily reappoint each member of the mayoral committee of the former mayor, Ms Cathy Dlamini, until he had finalised his plans. Dlamini’s committee was automatically dismantled upon her resignation which became effective when she was sworn into the National Council of Provinces last week.
Mathonsi was at pains to emphasise that the municipality’s work would continue as before and that they would not scrap any plans in progress to start anew.
“I accept the position cognisant of the enormous challenges faced by our communities which seem almost insurmountable if one were to be a pessimist,” he said in his acceptance speech.
“I don’t think anyone would disagree when I say that over the past years we have seen enormous momentum in transformation and change and have pushed back poverty to give a better life for all.”
He said the municipality’s priorities were simple and would remain the provision of services, especially water, roads and employment. Regarding challenges faced by Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM), such as the loss of hundreds of millions in uncollected revenue and grant money withheld due to its underspending, Mathonsi said MLM was already in the process of addressing the improvement thereof. However, he promised to have a more detailed plan ready by Friday only.
“We will see if we need to invoke any changes. We shall have a special council sitting where we will have a presentation to indicate the direction we want to take.” He would not comment on the deployment of ANC cadres and thanked outgoing mayor Dlamini for her contribution.
Prior to Mathonsi’s election, an in-committee sitting of councillors saw the extension of the six-month employment contract of the acting municipal manager Mr Sello Dishego. His contract would have expired on Sunday, but he will now serve until November or until a permanent municipal manager has been appointed.
