MATJHABENG, XAI-XAI CROSS INTERNATIONAL BORDERS (ctd)

NEW EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM SIGNS PERFORMANCE AGREEMENTS

Following Council’s resolution to restructure the Municipality’s macrostructure to strengthen good governance and integrated service delivery to the community, a Chief of Operations and three new Corporate Executive Directors, deployed in the Office of the Municipal Manager, were appointed to address the developmental priorities and challenges identified by Council.

They are Dr. Limakatso (Maki) Moorosi, Chief Operations Officer, Director Stephen Moletsane (Corporate Support Services), Director Kedisaletse Maloka (Social Services and Law Enforcement) and Director Thabiso Ngozwana (Infrastructure Services).

Executive Mayor Mathabo Mokapo, welcomed the new administrative executives on behalf of Council and the community of Matjhabeng at a ceremony during which they signed their employment contracts and performance agreements with Council. Members of the Mayoral Committee and the media attended the ceremony.

Executive Mayor Mokapo emphasized the importance of their role, responsibility and expected contribution in turning the tide with regards to backlogs in service delivery and other issues                        challenging Matjhabeng Local Municipality as a developmental municipality.

Their appointment forms part of fast tracking institutional change and organizational efficiency.
As members of the Municipal Manager’s executive team, they will be directly involved in, and accountable for the planning and implementation of initiatives needed to deliver economical, effective, efficient and accountable services in their respective directorates.

This process creates an accountability mechanism spiraling downwards and is meant to give  momentum to Council’s policies and business plan to ensure and strengthen better service delivery.

Executive Mayor Mokapo also said everybody is aware of the backlog in service delivery. The performance agreements will ensure that the executive management team performs as expected. The purpose of the performance contracts for the Municipal Manager (signed previously) and the new executives is therefore to have a tool for measuring performance.

Section 56 managers did not sign performance agreements in the past, and that resulted in the backlog the Municipality is now facing. By signing the performance agreements, the executive management team of the Municipality acknowledges that Council has a tool to dismiss them if they do not carry out their mandate properly.

She added that Council has adopted a performance framework, and a performance management system now needs to be developed to ensure that employees perform according to standard.
‘We need to measure the performance of employees, and if we find they do not perform according to standard, we need to evaluate why and provide the necessary resources and skilling”.

She said the cry that the Municipality does not have enough employees to deliver service, is not a true reflection for the reason of the backlog in service delivery. A lack of supervision plays a major role, and all employees will have to sign performance agreements within due course.

‘We will work together to alleviate the service delivery backlog, improve our finances and deal with Matjhabeng Local Municipality’s status under Project Consolidate”.

HIV/AIDS and its devastating effects are shaping the future of our communities, and new ways must be found to enable every member of the community to accept the HIV/AIDS crisis as their own crisis. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a shared concern which needs a shared vision.

A Matjhabeng Local Aids Council has been launched in Matjhabeng to ensure that HIV/AIDS activities within Matjhabeng are focused. Councillor Mathabo Mokapo serves as chairperson of the Council in her capacity as Executive Mayor.

The Local Aids Council will coordinate the implementation of strategies to minimize the spread of HIV/AIDS, coordinate the utilization of resources and identify deficiencies, coordinate communication on HIV/AIDS and implement resolutions of the Provincial/District AIDS Council. It will also provide feedback to the Provincial AIDS Council through the District AIDS Council on HIV/AIDS issues at the local level.

Rising to the challenge together, ward councilors play an important role in the activities of the Local Aids Council, taking it down to ward level in communities. Membership further constitutes of members of relevant stakeholders involved with HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns and activities. Tapping into the knowledge, experience and capacity of citizens within these spheres makes it possible to find solutions that can be owned and implemented by people themselves. The aim is to find solutions that work in terms of the culture and customs of a particular place and group.

Says Executive Mayor Mokapo: The launching of the Matjhabeng Local Aids Council was a very important occasion for us as community.

“We as Municipality and community believe that the Matjhabeng Local Aids Council is the first step in unlocking the enormous power of the community and ordinary citizen to strengthen government’s efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

“Matjhabeng Local Municipality, its Council and its community reaffirms its commitment to accept responsibility on local level for the fight against HIV/AIDS.”

Members of the Matjhabeng Local Aids Council made the following pledge at their inauguration:
 “We, the members of Matjhabeng Local Aids Council, acknowledge that HIV/AIDS is a disease that knows no gender, racial, ethnic or religious boundary. HIV/AIDS is everyone's problem and it is the responsibility of us all to do something about it.

Furthermore, we pledge to provide professional and quality service to all in Matjhabeng Local Municipality irrespective of gender, race and creed, upholding the trust and confidentiality entrusted to us by those infected and affected.

We therefore pledge to make a significant contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS, by supporting government's comprehensive HIV/AIDS plan in partnership with various stakeholders on local level.

We will network and support Matjhabeng Local Municipality and its peoples, other organizations and stakeholders in alleviating the plight of those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS through support and guidance of events and projects initiated on local level.

We commit ourselves to mentor local stakeholders, monitor and evaluate HIV/AIDS implementation strategies in Matjhabeng, and will ensure that HIV/AIDS activities are visible.

We will help wage the battle against HIV/AIDS in our community.  The first step is education to heal the wounds left by HIV/AIDS and prevent it from taking another life.”

Matters relating to the rejuvenation of the economy and programmes for service delivery constitute a fundamental question, as we grapple with the challenge to create a better life for all our people. During the 2006 Local Government Election we committed ourselves to certain targets with regard to the delivery of services. These among others include providing access to clean water, electricity and sanitation to our people, and eradication of the bucket system by 2007. Because as local government we work closest to the people, it is where each of our plans must be put into practice. I therefore hope and believe that this engagement will live up to the challenges we face in trying to push back the frontiers of poverty. These were the welcoming words of Me. Mathabo Mokapo, Executive Mayor, on occasion of the interaction with Minister Essop Pahad, Minister in the Presidency. Read the Executive Mayor’s welcoming address.

DURING the moving launching ceremony of the 16 Days of Activism against Women and Child Abuse in Matjhabeng, houses were given to four women who have to cope with extreme hardship as a result of abuse.

The women are Ms Elizabeth Mafoyane, whose 3 young sons were murdered by her partner in Chris Hani Park last year and who then discarded their lifeless little bodies in the open veldt behind Bongani Hospital, her sister, Ms. Dina Mafoyane whose son was slain with them, Ms. Nancy Poo, young widow of Mr. Jacob Poo was killed by a lion on a game farm earlier this year, leaving her unemployed and homeless with 2 small children, and the elderly Ms. Caroline Tats whose husband Mr. Ben Tats was also killed by a lion in the same incident. The announcement was met with jubilation from the guests, and tears of joy and disbelief from the recipients.

The launching ceremony, which was a multi cultural and multi lingual prayer service, were attended by Councillors, members of ward committees, members of church organizations, pastors, ministers and senior representatives of government departments. Lightning of candles in remembrance of people who lost their lives as a result of abuse, as well as to symbolize new hope was part of the program.

Executive Mayor Mokapo is the political custodian and champion of the 16 Days of Activism against Women and Child Abuse in Matjhabeng.  

Statistics, presented by the SA Police Service, indicated the far reaching depth of abuse in Matjhabeng. Behind statistics are real people and real pain, and the guests listened in silence when a 15 year old girl told them how she was raped as a virgin at the tender age of 13 at her home, pleading with the SA Police Service to find rapists and put them away. A woman told them how she lost a baby because of domestic violence, when her husband attacked her with a pitch fork and ruptured her uterus. Read the Executive Mayor’s speech. See the Photos.

Water in Matjhabeng Municipal Public Swimming Pools comply with international standards for drinking water. The quality of water in public municipal swimming pools in Matjhabeng Local Municipality now ranks among the best internationally. The water actually complies with international standards for drinking water. The water in all public municipal swimming pools in Matjhabeng is currently being treated with a special chemical which has been tested and declared safe by World Health. At the municipal swimming pool in Welkom, were from the left Mrs. Marjory Wegrostek from Austria (representative of the manufacturers), Mr. Norman Makhetha from Matjhabeng Local Municipality and superintendent at Welkom swimming pool, and Dr. Jan Roos from the Department of Environmental Management at the Free State University. Read more.

A forum on an Environmental Care Programme for Matjhabeng Local Municipality with the focus on Know How strategies was hosted by the Department of Community Services under the political leadership of Councillor Cosmos Dlamini, member of the Mayoral Committee tasked with Community Services. Ward Councillors, Community Development Workers, members of ward committees and other stakeholders attended. Issues that were discussed included the Adopt-a-Park development programme, plantation care, the beautifying of schools, churches and businesses, cemeteries and graveyards maintenance and clean and green competitions for wards. Me Emma Tladi, acting Executive Mayor, said in her opening address on behalf of Executive Mayor Mathabo Mokapo: “The significance of issues that relate to the environment need to be always in the mainstream of our planning around any development. As a country we form part of the family of nations that embrace the Millennium Development Goals. And for that reason we need at the local level, to ensure that initiatives, programmes and projects that will lead to an aesthetic environment are embraced.” Read the opening address.

The Vodacom Matjhabeng Corporate Games were held in Matjhabeng at the Bronville Stadium recently. At the prize giving gala dinner, Me. Jaja Radebe, member of the Mayoral Committee tasked with Social Development who represented acting Executive Mayor Emma Tladi, said it is important for all young people to continuously engage in sporting activities, so as to keep healthy and also amass the new opportunities that abound in sports since the advent of our democracy in 1994. Read the acting Executive Mayor’s message here.

The acting Executive Mayor welcomed the community to an Imbizo on education in Matjhabeng during the national Imbizo Focus Week. Me. Tladi said: “Education of our children and youth constitutes the bedrock on which future generations and leaders will emerge upon...”. Read the message here.

Ward committee members from all 36 wards in Matjhabeng Local Municipality attended a workshop in Welkom to capacitate them for their task at hand. The workshop, presented by the Office of the Speaker in conjunction with the Office of the Council Whip, addressed matters such as good governance, the functions of ward committees, the role of ward councilors, relevant legislation and offer important guidelines to prepare them for their role as government’s ear and mouth on grassroots level. 

Says Councillor Lennox Rubulana, Speaker of Matjhabeng Local Municipality: “Ward Committees are a representative structure of the community and residents, and residents play a critical role in informing the municipality about the aspirations, potentials and problems of the people. They are also a communication bridge between Council and residents they represent. Ward committees have an important role to play in actively taking part and determining core municipal process, such as the Integrated Development Planning, municipal budgeting and municipal performance management processes. Without them, our system of democratic government and developmental local government cannot be said to be rooted among the people.”

The ward committee members were also orientated about the role the respective municipal departments play in service delivery, with the focus on how to participate in departmental programmes or how to access them.

Representatives of two national departments, the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Labor, attended the workshop. The ward committee members were informed about procedures when applying for an identity document, social grants, registration of deaths and even registration of marriages. The Department of Labor explained government’s skills development plans, as well as the opportunities the RPL (Recognized Prior Learning) programme presents for people to obtain a recognized, accredited qualification.

The Code of Conduct for ward committee members and the importance of attending ward committee meetings as well as Council meetings were emphasized, especially as they both capacitate ward committee members in terms of their task on grassroots level.

A reporting template, which will assist ward committee members in their Programme of Action in their respective wards, was introduced.

The ward committee members were also asked to assist the Municipality in identifying indigents in their ward, and to report cases of meter tampering.