New broom in municipal financial office wants to clean up TCM’s debt

LYDENBURG – There’s a new chief financial officer (CFO) at Thaba Chweu Municipality.

The new CFO, Mr Lesley Maphaka Mokwena, has big plans and dreams to bring great change to the community.

The 37-year-old from Ohrigstad joined TCM in February 2015 and he has no doubt that there’s hope for the municipality to get back on its feet.

“With proper planning, teamwork and working together with the community we will be able to achieve all the dreams we have for TCM,” he said.

Some of his plans include repairing and maintaining the infrastructure, making sure that the municipality’s Eskom account is settled, paying creditors and attending to municipal debtors challenges.

“Our plans are intended to remove the municipality from the state it is in at the moment, we want to fix the roads because that is very important for our economic growth. There was a time when tourists avoided going through our town because of the road infrastructure and we need to make sure they come to our town because it is good for our economic growth,” he explained.

“We need to make payment arrangement with municipal debtors because the money they owe is needed so that the municipality can pay off its debts, so we will meet with them and make arrangements to how much they can pay, we know that most people don’t have money that is why they are struggling to pay,” he added.

According to Mokwena he plans to start with the fundamental issues that need to be dealt with immediately. “We know that

there’s so many issues within our community that need to be addressed. Although we will not be able resolve everything at once residents need to know that at the end we will have attended to most.”

Mokwena has 14 years working experience. Prior to accepting the CFO position with TCM, he served as an audit manager for the Auditor General South Africa (Agsa).

Before working for Agsa, he was the CFO of the Greater Tubatse Municipality, from 2007 to 2012. Whilst there he was influential in providing strategic leadership within the municipal finance environment and operations.

“Some of my main key performance areas were to ensure compliance with policies and procedures and advise the municipal council on finance administrations, payroll management, employee benefits, financial and performance reporting,” he said.

He also worked as programme manager for the Independent Development Trust in Polokwane from 2006 to 2007. His very first job was as anforensic auditor forthe AuditorGeneral in 1998 to 2002.

He has a B.Com accounting degree which he obtained at the University of the North and is planning to complete his masters degree. “I have a degree with completed articles and in the near future I will complete my masters degree in public and development management at Wits University,” he said.