The MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Simon Skhosana has expressed satisfaction with the progress being made by the Emalahleni Local Municipality since it was put under administration in terms of section 139(1) (b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No.108 of 1996).
A progress report presented to the department indicates that the Administrator has developed and is implementing a Turn Around Strategy (TAS). A number of interventions have been introduced to deal with the systematic challenges that faced the municipality. The TAS addresses the key performance areas which includes good governance, service delivery, LED, financial viability, and institutional transformation.
The TAS has been divided into three phases being the short term phase which focuses on stabilising the municipal environment ; medium term phase which focuses on balancing the budget of the municipality through income and expenditure and initiatives, normalising municipal functions and efficiencies over all its focus areas and re-establishing service levels to acceptable standards and the long term phase which will focus on developing a long term financial strategy aligned with the operational and capital requirements over the next three to five years, developing a capital investment programme and mobilising funding to revitalise the infrastructure base and ensure sufficient capacity to deliver services and to develop a partnership programme with the private sector and community to promote the development of the municipal economic base.
The Administrator has consulted with all staff members and different stakeholders to discuss the TAS with them. As an immediate action the Administrator is looking into all the different human resources issues that have plagued the municipality such building staff morale, suspended officials and unfair labour practises to bring about labour stability.
A process of overhauling the procurement system to plug all gaps that have created problems and improve the financial controls is underway. A programme has also been developed to clean up various areas in the municipality. This will beautify the areas and make it community friendly and attractive. The municipality is currently developing a maintenance and inspection schedule for all its service delivery initiatives.
The intervention has also yielded positive results with regards to the following;
- Institutional stability
- Improved quality of service rendered e.g. water, maintenance of road, refuse removal
- Community engagements and participation e.g. meetings held in each of the wards and social media being used to reach all members of the community
- Improvement in the Technical engineering as well as attending to financial issues of the municipality.
In an effort to keep the staff and public informed the Administrator has improved the communication channels. On a weekly basis the administrator issues an internal letter to all staff members to keep them informed of all developments. This has improved staff morale and brought labour stability. For the public, the administrator has taken to the social media and created an “Emalahleni Face Book Page” in which he daily interacts with the public.
MEC Skhosana says with the progress that the municipality has made he is confident that when the term of the Administrator ends the municipality will have improved significantly. He further thanked the communities and all stakeholders of the Emalahleni Local Municipality for working with the Administrator in dealing with the problems that have plagued the municipality and turning it around.
Enquiries:
Simphiwe Kunene
Cell: 082 413 3931
