MIDVAAL. – A year in office for Midvaal Local Municipality (MLM) Mayor Peter Teixeira and his team is a milestone worth celebrating. During an event held in celebration of this achievement, Teixeira highlighted some of the successes that he together with his entire team have been able to attain.

The observation was held at the Midvaal Local Municipality premises on Wednesday 07 December.

Teixeira, during his keynote address revealed that the municipality had attained its eighth consecutive clean audit saying that this was proof of the hard work that has been done in putting the people first, and giving them services.

“When you ask a community member of Sicelo what a clean audit is, they should be able to tell you that a clean audit means that I have electricity, water and pothole free roads.

“The municipality is a beacon of sound financial management processes, ensuring that money is spent on service delivery-related projects. Only 25% of the budget goes towards employee-related costs such as salaries, whilst the bulk of our budget is dedicated towards service delivery”

Speaking about job opportunities, Teixeira said that 2959 employment opportunities were created through the EPWP Capital projects as well as Blue Shield Law enforcement Unit.

“Midvaal Local Municipality electrified 1800 households in Savanna City. 1800 households that were previously without electricity can now turn on their lights, use the electric appliance and enjoy the ease of having electricity. R10 million was allocated for the electrification of an additional 453 households in Moreki and Marothong. This is a direct response to the needs of our community and meeting our mandated obligation of providing basic services.

“The municipality has completed upgrading Sicelo libraries at a cost of R2,3 million. We completed the renovations of Henley on Klip Library in June 2022. We completed the painting of Lakeside and Randvaal Library in June 2022.A total of 14 vehicles were purchased and strategically allocated to key service departments such as Public Safety and Roads, Community Services and Engineering Services.”

Talking about the achievement of another clean audit, Municipal Manager Anton Groenewald says, “The Municipality has attained it’s ninth clean audit. We continue too be the bastion of good governance and clean administration in Gauteng. We stand ready to give support and advice to other local municipalities in the region should the request arises.

Groenewald said that the municipality had spent just over 1,6 billion with the largest amount, almost R200 million being spent on capital infrastructure in Midvaal.

“We do still struggle to get good and skilled people who are willing to travel this side.  This is because other municipalities are able to pay far higher salaries. We get the 5% discount from Eskom for paying timeously.”

Groenewald said some of the things they would focus on in the next 3-5 years are infrastructure, Electricity and renewable energy, waste management, tourism in Midvaal and economic growth.