Following weeks of turmoil in Balfour’s Siyathemba Township as residents took to the streets in protest against a range of grievances that started off as complaints against poor service delivery, Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sicelo Shiceka will visit the area tomorrow Thursday, 18 February.
Accompanied by the Public Protector, Advocate Thulile Madonsela and the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Norman Mokoena, Minister Shiceka will hold meetings with councillors and other stakeholders to get a better understanding of the problems that have led to the current wave of unrest after the provincial government had made interventions aimed at resolving community grievances after similar protests in 2009.
In addition, in 2009 Minister Shiceka led his department in conducting assessments of all municipalities in the country, including those in Mpumalanga, an exercise that led to the compilation of the state of local government in South Africa report. The report in turn informed the two days multi-stakeholder Local Government Indaba which took place in October in Birchwood and became the basis for the local government turnaround strategy that was approved by Cabinet for implementation in December.
As part of the implementation process, officials from the national and provincial Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs departments, working with key local stakeholders and sector departments, are currently supporting municipalities in developing municipality specific turnaround strategies which are aimed at providing sustainable solutions to some of the problems being raised by the Siyathemba residents. Mpumalanga is also part of this process.
In addition to a report from the minister’s advisors who were sent to investigate the situation last week and the consultations with various stakeholders tomorrow, MEC Mokoena will also provide Minister Shiceka with the provincial government’s findings on the situation.
The media is invited to a briefing by Minister Shiceka, Advocate Madonsela and MEC Mokoena, which will take place as follows:
Date: Thursday, 18 February 2010
Time: 12h30 to 13h00
Venue: Mayoral chamber, Dipaliseng local municipality in Balfour
To RSVP and get directions, please call Simphiwe Kunene
Tel: 013 766 6591
Cell: 082 413 3931
Vuyelwa Qinga Vika
Tel: 012 334 0995
Cell: 082 277 3898
Fax: 012 326 4478
E-mail: VuyelwaQ@dplg.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
17 February 2010
