The Premier of the Eastern Cape Ms Noxolo Kiviet will lead the Executive Council Outreach (Exco) programme to the second economic hub of the province, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, from 6 to 8 August 2012. The Premier will also inspect a R75 million Human Settlements project that includes 947 housing units and hand over five houses to needy families.
The Premier accompanied by the full Executive Council will engage the local leadership led by the Executive Mayor of Buffalo City Councillor Zukiswa Ncita on 7 August 2012. As part of unmediated engagement of partners in governance and the people, the Premier will also have meetings with Buffalo City Stakeholders as well as communities to deepen mutual understanding, enhance collaboration in service delivery and in ensuring a responsive and a caring government.
The outreach visit will be the third such visit over the past two months following Cacadu District Municipality and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro visits that were undertaken in July 2012.
The packed programme of Premier Kiviet and her Executive Council includes:
- A closed inter-governmental session where local and provincial leadership will share information on service delivery and seek to find joint solutions for service delivery bottlenecks on Tuesday morning - 7 August 2012 in the Auditorium Hall of BCM in East London.
- A simultaneous visit of service delivery sites by delegations of Heads of Department that are led by the Director General of the provincial administration Mr Mbulelo Sogoni will be undertaken.
- A meeting with stakeholders of the Metro to be held in Auditorium Hall in East London on Tuesday afternoon.
- Service delivery project site visits which will include an inspection of a R75 million Tshabo human settlements project and a hand over of houses by Premier Kiviet to needy families on 8 August 2012 in Tshabo village near Berlin.NB. An engagement of the Premier, the Executive Mayor and MECs is arranged to take place at the project site visit.
- Community engagement in Potsdam which will be held in the Potsdam Community Hall.
Three clusters of MECs accompanied by Mayoral Committee Members will, parallel to the Premier’s programme on day two, visit the following projects on Wednesday morning, 8 August 2012, before engaging communities in a public meeting:
- Empilisweni Hospital followed by community engagement in Tsholomnqa – Xhamini Community Hall – MEC Xoliswa Tom leads
- Duncan Village pilot project and Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) cleaning project followed by a community engagement in Orange Groove, Robie de Lange Hall – MEC Phumulo Masualle leads
- Izandlazethu Community Development Project in Nxaruni and Pakamisa Housing Project in Zwelitsha followed by a community engagement session in Phakamisa West, Rondavell Hall, MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane leads
- A culture change session of all civil servants of the Buffalo City Metro will be held in the Auditorium Hall in East London on Wednesday afternoon, 8 August 2012.
The EXCO Outreach to Buffalo City Metro Municipality (BCMM) is the first one since the municipality obtained the metro status. BCMM, which boasts of R29.7 billion contribution to provincial gross domestic product and just over one-million population, has undergone a transition from a category B to a category A municipality immediately after the 2011 local government elections. The visit is expected to also help address the challenges the new Metro faces with interventions aimed at accelerating its transition.
The EXCO Outreach programme is part of national government efforts to implement the public participation programme launched by President Jacob Zuma to ensure that government "knows where people live, understands their needs and responds faster” and that “government must work faster, harder and smarter” to improve service delivery and the quality of people's lives.
We trust that this very important visit will receive your outmost attention and coverage.
Enquiries:
Manelisi Wolela
Cell: 083 626 0304
