Message From The Mayor

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Message From The Mayor



The municipality has all its portfolio committees in place and scheduled meetings are undertaken by the Executive, Municipal Council and respective Portfolio Committees as required by the governing municipal legislation. As the political administrators of the municipality, we adjudicate an oversight role in all operations and delivery of services. The Executive Council has ensured the all operations of the organisation become aligned to the National Development Plan-2030; KZN-Provincial Growth & Development Strategy-2035; Amajuba District Growth & Development Plan-2030 and all legislative prescripts of National & Provincial Government.

The 2019/20 IDP serves as a review of the initial five-year IDP plan developed in 2018/19 financial year, it addresses the reduction of poverty, intense development of infrastructure and radical socio-economic transformation as set out by National Government. The municipality has ensured that the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 financial years have been a constant delivery of infrastructure and basic services to our local people; the municipality successfully delivered in 2017/18 financial year; a community hall-ward.2; 8 km’s of tarred roads; 8km’s of gravel road; 25 houses; 2 mobile child care facilities; electrical-infills of 837 households; the full maintenance & renovations of community halls in wards 8, 10 & 12; all streetlights were maintained; the completion of the Driving Testing Centre; 12 jojo tanks to households that did not have access to water and a total of 65 individuals within Co-operatives were empowered in various skills.

To further enhance the development of services to the public, the municipality has embarked on the construction of new municipal offices as the current municipal offices have office space limitations. Currently our staff members are constrained with regards to working space and this is also stopping the process of recruiting for vacant positions within our structures. It is governments mandate that a healthy and safe working environment is provided to our employees so that they deliver services effectively. A new taxi rank located 60m from the New Municipal Offices & 50m from the CBD is also being constructed, it will accommodate the public taxi transport which is not currently catered for properly. The municipality is fully committed to ensure that our local community members benefit through successful infrastructure development.

It is with great pleasure that the municipality is complying with the areas addressed in the “Address held on 07 February 2019” by Honourable President C. Ramaphosa; which include; addressing the unemployment challenge; marketing investment opportunities; accelerating investment in infrastructure and improving regulatory clarity within the municipal jurisdiction. This is further in line with the “State of the Province Address held on the 27th of February 2019”; key areas of importance which include; growing a more inclusive economy; human resources development; human and community development; development of infrastructure; ensuring of environmental sustainability; providing good governance with clear and relevant policies; and striving for spatial equity.
 
The implementation of various programmes by the municipality over the next four years, will ensure that poverty margins are brought down, economic projects are implemented to enhance job creation and self-sustainability of the communities; the implementation of social cohesion programmes will empower the communities living in poverty whether youth, women and the disabled; enrich our communities with skills development of various economic & social areas of life and further empower SMMEs & Co-operatives within our jurisdiction. Although significant progress of implementing these initiatives is being made, a critical hindrance that has to be noted is the limited financial budget to undertake all projects that are required. Some important projects are being deferred to the following financial years due to limited funds although they are crucial for implementation. It is important to further note that the municipality has undertaking initiatives to source other forms of funding in line with the PFMA and Municipal Systems Act; that will enhance the implementation of some unfunded projects.