Municipaties encouraged to plan for elections
Cogta MEC Fikile Xasa has called on municipal Mayors to consolidate their plans in preparation for the upcoming local government elections. The elections are expected to place between May and August 2016.
Presenting his opening remarks at the last quarterly meeting of the political MuniMEC meetings, MEC Xasa also bade farewell to those who might not come back post the elections.
“The importance of the meeting cannot be overemphasised as it the best platform to prepare for transition to the new municipal Councils. We ask for your wisdom to provide guidance to that process,” said MEC Xasa.
As public representatives, he said they must Put People First in the work of government to respond to their needs and create an environment of dialogue and discussion to tackle current challenges. He said there was a need for expediency in dealing with service delivery issues with tangible timeframes attached to “bring about hope and ease the frustrations of our communities.”
“As we move forward we must strengthen working partnerships with all key stakeholders including traditional leaders, Ward Councillors, Ward Committees and Community Development Workers. Local government elections will be fought at Ward level hence the need to compile Ward Profiles on the delivery of services. This is the time for us to go and account to communities,” he said.
The political MuniMEC meeting is a quarterly meeting attended by all Mayors in the Eastern Cape Province designed to receive progress reports, consult with municipalities, share information and discuss issues of common interest as articulated within the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act (IGRFA) No. 13 of 2005.
MEC Xasa emphasised the need to collaborate and share best practices amongst municipalities in the light of the diminishing financial resources in the country. For that reason we need to do more with less.
Meanwhile, on the demarcation process new names and seats of the new municipalities have been proposed. The proposals are; Nkonkobe and Inxuba the name is Raymond Mhlaba with a seat in Alice, Lukhanji and Tsolwana with Enoch Mgijima as the proposed name with the seat in Queenstown, Gariep and Maletswai with Walter Sisulu as the proposed name with a seat in Burgersdorp and for Camdeboo, Ikhwezi and Baviaans the proposed name is Karoo Mohair with a seat in Graaf Reinet. Worth noting is that all these names are not finalised as yet.
Enquiries:
Mamnkeli Ngam
Cell: 071 685 7981
