HIGHVELD – Ms Thandi Ngxonono, executive mayor, has called on residents to rally behind her as she tries to turn things around in Govan Mbeki Municipality.
In a press statement issued by Mr Benzi Soko, Chief of Staff on behalf of Ms Ngxonono, he called on residents to join hands with the municipality to tackle the problems they are facing.
Mr Soko encouraged the public to participate in municipal activities and meetings through “positive engagement aimed at finding workable and sustainable solutions.”
He said the on-going IDP consultations form part of these positive engagements for the enhancement of public participation in municipal affairs.
“Most importantly, Ms Ngxonono has managed to facilitate and expedite the process of the appointment of the new municipal manager, Mr Felani Mndebele, and two directors of Technical and Corporate Services respectively, a decisive action which will contribute to stabilise the municipality.
“This positive and progressive development has happened after a long period in which the municipality has been on auto-pilot.
“This decision alone is a clear sign that GMM has entered the new era in-line with the Thuma Mina philosophy as expressed and marshaled by Pres Cyril Ramaphosa.
“We are calling all to welcome these positive developments as we continue to gradually pick up the pieces for reconstruction and development in Govan Mbeki Municipality.”
He said Ms Ngxonono has on many occasions mentioned the need to move forward in order to build this municipality because dwelling on the past will only make all to be slaves of the past.
He said Ms Ngxonono is appealing to all to ensure they pay for the services that the municipality is rendering to the public and in doing so, contribute to the revenue collection efforts that the municipality has initiated.
“As a matter of fact, she has resuscitated the Service Delivery Committee whose objectives, among others, are to intensify service delivery to the people and to monitor progress and challenges.
“We are calling on residents and business entities in the municipal area to heed this call of paying for services rendered by the municipality.
“We are therefore calling on all our people to cooperate with the municipality in order for all service delivery programs to yield positive results.”
Eskom issued a notice that they will implement bulk power cuts from Monday, 26 November.
Mr Soko said the Eskom account is still a big problem which needs to be dealt with.
He said the municipality has drafted a repayment plan through which payments are done on a consistent basis to bring down the staggering debt which has led to some of these issues being handled in the legal arena.
“This leadership has promised that things will be done in a different way in order to turn the situation around and we cannot do this alone.
“We need the full support of the community. We are of the view that if all our people, including businesses, honour their obligation of paying for services, we will be able to tackle the Eskom and Rand Water accounts which remain a powder keg for all of us as residents.
“It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that we cross the Rubicon and turn this municipality into a well-oiled machine of quality service delivery.
“It is against this background that we encourage all our people to utilise this open-door policy to advance the cause and contribute innovative ideas that will put this municipality to greater heights.”
He said while the council acknowledges that the country is a democratic constitutional dispensation where people have the freedom as enshrined in the constitution, including the right to march and hand over memoranda.
The council implores people to use these channels of engagement intelligently and profitably.
Mr Soko argued that marches and demonstrations should not be the only language which the public use to communicate with their elected public representatives.
“While marches are able to highlight the plight of the public, they are not as effective as bilateral and multilateral engagements where issues and complaints are discussed and solutions found and implemented pronto.
“It is our view that these talks should be encouraged, simply because they have a potential of yielding workable and sustainable solutions for the challenges.
“History has placed all of us in the current socio-economic and political epoch, in order to create a positive role for the betterment of the lives of our people, our children and their children’s children.
“In his maiden address to the GMM Staff, the new municipal manager, Mr Mndebele, posed an instructive question to us when he said: “What are you individually doing in making this municipality a better place?”
“This question remains posed to all of us as individuals and as a collective.”
