New mayor has sights set on bright future
The new mayor of the Greater Giyani Municipality, Sasavona Mathebula, assured residents of Giyani that the municipality was still in good hands despite the change in management.
LIMPOPO – Mathebula held the position of the municipality’s Speaker in the last council which assumed office in 2011, and has now been elected to lead the municipality as the new mayor, while Pat Hlungwan, who was the mayor in the last council, took the position of Speaker of the municipality.
Speaking after her inauguration as a mayor along with 61 other councillors in the municipality, Mathebula said the change in management will not affect service delivery.
She said as she served on the previous council, she had a hand in the success of the municipal outcomes and her current goals are in line with those of the previous mayor.
“Having served in the previous council, I know where we left off and what needs to be prioritised to ensure that our people get better service delivery,” she said appealing for support from all the councillors and the community at large.
“We know that Giyani residents deserve better streets and good transportation infrastructure, hence we appeal to everyone, especially traditional leaders, to work with us to help overcome the challenges we all face,” she continued. She singled out the provision of water services in the Giyani municipality as one of the services that her council will prioritise to ensure the residents in the municipality have access to clean water.
On the other hand, the newly elected speaker of the municipality, Pat Hlungwani appealed to all elected councillors to respect the rules of the municipality’s council.
“It is important that all councillors from different organisations adhere and respect the municipality’s rules, especially the code of conduct in the council, so as to make our sitting special every time we meet,” he said.
His comment came after members of the EFF, which has five seats on the newly elected council out of the 11 occupied by the opposition parties, all walked out of the council meeting during the proceedings without giving an explanation or apology for their action.
Members of the opposition that remained behind when the EFF staged a walk-out, welcomed the new council and urged it to speed up service delivery in the municipality.
“On the projects that have either collapsed or were not completed, we would like to see them up and running again as soon as possible.
“We aim to continue where we left off so service delivery is not compromised,” said DA councillor, Hasani Shibambu.
