Lekwa and Goldi in Standerton bury the hatchet
Lekwa’s slogan is ‘Together moving Lekwa forward’ and a presentation was done in which the challenges were outlined.
A national business website with a readership of more than six million unique visitors, has put the Lekwa Municipality on the spot in a recent article.
The water crisis, which had a negative effect on Astral Foods’ poultry farming and production costs, came to the forefront.
The administrator, Johann Mettler and management of Goldi, held a meeting on September 17 last year.
A meeting in council between Lekwa and Astral Holdings took place on Friday, April 8 at 11:00.
The Executive Mayor, Louis Delani Thabethe, speaker Oliver Phiri, MMCs Sipho Majozi, Sipathi Modise, Phindile Mahlaba, Thabo Sebiloane and councillor Alberto Franco were present to discuss progress with Wickus Kleynhans, COO central region commercial division, and Morné van der Merwe, general manager at Goldi.
Franco, serving in the budget and treasury office, was involved in facilitating the meeting.
The acting municipal manager, LD Tsotetsi and Mettler were also present.
Discussions focused on the implementation of the financial recovery plan, with issues such as electricity supply, water supply and roads rehabilitation placed on the agenda.
Lekwa’s slogan is ‘Together moving Lekwa forward’ and the challenges were outlined in a presentation.
According to Franco, water supply to Astral is stabilised at the moment, though not ideal.
“A long-term plan is envisaged where the company gets a dedicated water line,” he said.
“It is however, still being ironed out.”
More water will be released to the community.
Lekwa and Astral have also entered into a memorandum of understanding.
Franco added that Astral, with a workforce of 3 700 directly employed, invests heavily in the community.
Goldi’s cricket week and marathon are two examples of their involvement in the sporting community and on more than one occasion, the company made a truck available to supply water when taps ran dry in Standerton.
They also regularly donate chicken packs for the soup kitchen on Thursdays at Kasselman Security Services.
The down-at-heel in the community are not forgotten.
Franco concluded by saying the meeting went well since Astral is no longer viewed as the enemy.
Astral Operations Limited and Others relied on the Constitution of South of South Africa in their legal proceedings in May 2018.
National intervention and relief was granted in May last year.
Section 139 (7) of the Constitution and the Municipal Finance Management Act came into effect.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) warned government of the dire situation should the country not fix its local government structures and municipalities.
In the article on the business website mentioned above, an indication is given of municipalities’ financial trouble.
Altogether 86 out of 259 municipalities were going south in 2013 and it increased to 175 in 2019.
The article also cited the Auditor-General’s figure of 90% in 2022.
With Eskom announcing load-shedding and the implications to power and water supply, residents were posting their thoughts fast and furious on a
WhatsApp-group the past week.
