Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Executive Mayor, Danny Jordaan, addressing Ward Committees at Nangoza Jebe Hall yesterday, 09 May 2016, stated: ‘Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality needs to feel the pulse of its people all the time. Ward committees are the only vehicle that the Municipality can use to achieve that’.
The meeting was called by the Executive Mayor to create a platform for him and Ward Committees to interact about the five-year plans of the Municipality and the challenges faced by Ward Committees when executing their duties.
Present at attended meeting were Councillors from different political parties, the Executive Mayor and the Mayoral Committee, senior municipal officials and community leadership.
The Executive Mayor expressed his gratitude for the commitment by Ward Committee members to do work without expecting remuneration. Ward Committees have in past complained to the Municipality about a lack of support and challenges regarding work tools.
They also had an issue about the outstanding payment of their stipend by the Municipality. At the meeting, the Executive Mayor also announced the steps that had been taken by the Municipality to deal with their challenges. He announced that the outstanding payments would be made, with each Ward Committee member receiving R9000, being the amount owed by the Municipality. He also announced to the jubilation or the Ward Committee members present that all the issues that they had raised as a hindrance to their work have been addressed.
The Executive Mayor also presented a programme that had been adopted by the Council, called the Five Golden Years of Nelson Mandela Bay. The programme, which will be implemented over the next five years, deals with various areas, namely infrastructure development, tourism, job creation and economic development, with the focus on the township and ocean economy.
It also deals with clean governance and capacity building within the municipal administration. The Executive Mayor added that since he took office last year, gaps in the way Ward Committees were functioning had been noticed, “We need to improve the institutional arrangement of Ward Committees and close the gaps that currently exist between Ward Committees, Councillors and the Municipality.”
The Executive Mayor promised that, going forward, more engagements with Ward Committees would be called, where they would be given the opportunity to advise on how to improve their work and the relationship with the Municipality.
“We also decided to do a presentation on our plans, which are a result of suggestions and advice we got from the public through the IDP Public Participation meetings. It is critical that you understand the direction the Municipality is taking, as you are our foot soldiers on the ground. You need to know and understand what are our plans are for job creation and the creation of new economic opportunities, like township and ocean economy, and tourism, ” added Executive Mayor Jordaan.
At the end of the meeting, the Executive Mayor, the Chief Operations Officer, Mr Mzwakhe Clay, and the leadership of the Ward Committees signed an agreement confirming the decision by the Municipality to pay the outstanding money owned to Ward Committees.
NMB Communications
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