The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has been appointed to be the Lead Department to coordinate and ensure the success of the Presidential Siyahlola visit scheduled to take place on 10 June 2016. The Minister of CoGTA Mr Des van Rooyen, today visited the Kwaggafontein area under the Thembisile Hani Municipality in Mpumalanga Province. The visit by the Minister was to check progress in the delivery of services as part of preparations for the Presidential Siyahlola Monitoring Programme.
The Minister was joined by MEC of CoGTA in the Mpumlanga province, Ms Refilwe Motshweni lauded the President’s hands on approach to on-site monitoring of government performance in the delivery of services to the communities.
The visit of the President to this Municipality was necessitated by the walk-about and interactions with commuters on 08 February 2016, using the Marabastad station. Those who interacted with the President raised a number of issues requiring government intervention. The President then committed that he will visit Kwaggafontein to see for himself the state of service delivery in the area.
Thembisile Municipality which is predominantly rural, has shown steady but recognizable progress in a number of areas compared to the some few years ago when it was placed under administration. Although there is progress, the Executive Mayor of the Municipality, Councilor Ndaweni Mahlangu was upbeat that progress will be made in all other areas geared to improving the lives of the communities. As part of the briefing, the Municipality indicated that water is the major problem and needs to be addressed with immediate effect. ‘The visit of the President in this Municipality will assist to unblock all the blockages in terms of service delivery’, said Executive Mayor Mahlangu.
The Thembisile Hani Municipality has four (4) traditional councils and they also have a role to play as the leaders of various constituencies in the area. As part of the interaction and engagement with leaders in the Municipality, Minister van Rooyen also met with traditional leaders. As leaders of their constituencies, the traditional leaders also key issues like the challenge of water and local economic development. This part of the meeting agreed to continued engagements and also engaging other government portfolios who can come and assist the communities in Chris Hani.
Part of the Minister’s visit included the assessment of the key projects that are currently being rolled out by the Municipality with an intention to build a better life for all communities in Thembisile Hani.
- Project 1: The Water project which is a MIG funded projects that includes the construction of reservoirs, pipelines and drilling of boreholes in Boekenhouthoek
- Project 2: The Energy project which is in the Sun City Section C/D that deals with the electricity connections
- Project 3: The Human Settlements where the President will hand over 3 houses in Ezakheni area.
‘As the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs we will continue to support this municipality through the Back to Basics programme as we do with the rest of the country to ensure development of communities’, said Minister van Rooyen.
The Minister said, ‘it is only through these interactions with communities and other stakeholders that we will be able to find lasting solutions to address issues of service delivery’.
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