Mayor’s 1st year in office
This month marks the first year of Thembi Nkadimeng as Polokwane mayor.
POLOKWANE – This month marks the first year of Thembi Nkadimeng as Polokwane mayor.
Review spoke to Nkadimeng about her first year in office.
“My personal growth while navigating this maze called local government is a journey that I continue to positively embrace. It has been a journey of personal discovery, of embracing new relationships and that of testing my ability as a woman, a wife, a mother and leader in juggling the multiple responsibilities at hand,” Nkadimeng said.
According to Nkadimeng, the first stop of her journey as mayor was understanding the dynamics and challenges in the municipality.
“I had to go through intensive engagement and consultation with all stakeholders from leaders in religion, traditional affairs, business, state entities, NGO’s, taxi industry down to young people in the municipality. This exercise helped my office to understand which issues to deal with in order of priority,” she said.
She added that this was the year that the municipality should produce on the promises they made.
“This is the year where we have to come through on all the service delivery commitments we made as council when we took office. These three issues still remain high on our list of priorities; acceleration of service delivery with regards to water, rural electrification programme and roads, find solutions to deal with water losses and increase of sewage capacity and ensuring revenue collection increased,” Nkadimeng said.
Asked if she could change something in the municipality, Nkadimeng said she preferred the word improve “on”, rather than “change”.
“We are already working on creating a more conducive environment for employees to deliver on their respective performance areas. This includes putting more effective internal administrative system in places, capacity building and ongoing skills development programmes for staff and enhancing a culture of service excellence,” she said.
Nkadimeng also said this was the year to accelerate interventions to the plight of vulnerable women, the disabled and elderly.
“Creation of support systems and tangible empowerment programmes remains a priority. This of course cannot be done outside strong partnerships with civil society and organised businesses in the city,” she said.
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