ICityzn heads reach out to municipal leadership
"It is crucial that councillors attend ICityzn meetings, to ensure a broader base of government presence and involvement. We need to discuss the pluses and minuses within the community," explained Gustav Rohrs, Chairman of Vryheid Tourism.
Members of the ICityzn team met with Mayor, Jerry Sibiya last Thursday (June 20).
This meeting followed an ICityzn gathering at the beginning of the month, during which the poor attendance of councillors at said meetings was discussed.
Thursday’s meeting was held to personally invite Cllr Sibiya and Municipal Manager, Bonga Ntanzi to the next gathering, to determine why they had not attended the previous one and what could be done to remedy the situation.
“It is crucial that councillors attend ICityzn meetings, to ensure a broader base of government presence and involvement. We need to discuss the pluses and minuses within the community,” explained Gustav Rohrs, Chairman of Vryheid Tourism.
“When ICityzn takes off properly, it will make a huge positive impact on the community and we need local government to be involved. We want to collaborate with government and we need their help. ICityzn will not wait and will carry on, but in a positive way, we want them on board,” added Pastor at Klipkerk, Ferdinand van Niekerk.
It was established which councillors, along with the wards they represent, should be attending ICityzn meetings going forward, and Cllr Sibiya stated he would personally invite them to be there.
He also explained challenges he was faced with at the time of the last ICityzn meeting: “There were some challenges around Budget time, and meetings with various stakeholders took up a great deal of my time. I hope for the best in future; that we will have time to meet. “I believe in transparency. It is vitally important we ascertain whether or not we as the municipality are delivering services according to standard. We want to clean, repair, paint and plant. We will supply plastic bags to all community initiatives pertaining to the cleaning up of our town.”
Cllr Sibiya requested the future challenges encountered by ICityzn be brought to him personally.
It was decided that on July 3, ICityzn members will tour through Vryheid as a group, and compile a list of problems in and around the town for Cllr Sibiya to be made aware of. He would then allocate responsibilities to the various departments. Cllr Sibiya concluded: “I have faith in the community, so all the decisions made have to be in the best interests of the community.”
A follow-up meeting between Cllr Sibiya and ICityzn has been scheduled for 9am on July 8.
Also read: Vryheiders partner for growth at iCityzn breakfast
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