The council of Msukaligwa Municipality held their fourth ordinary council meeting at the municipal council chambers on Thursday, 31 January, where the annual report on the 2017/2018 financial year was being presented.
The much-awaited report detailed how the municipality had spent their finances, the progress in various projects and challenges they have faced in the above-mentioned year.
The Executive Mayor, Mr Joseph Mkhaliphi, in his foreword in the annual report, noted how the filling up of management vacancies within the municipality is in full swing with the appointment of the new municipal manager, Ms Jabu Majola and director of planning and economic development, Mr Desmond Maake.
“Currently, the appointment of the positions of Director Technical and Director Community Services are at an advanced stage while that of Director Corporate Services has been re-advertised and to be filled in the third quarter of the financial year,” Mr Mkhaliphi said.
The first citizen added that council will have a fully-fledged management team by 1 May this year, once approval processes are finalised.
The municipality is also filling numerous vacant positions at other levels and released numerous employment posts for the public’s consumption in the Highvelder on 1 February.
Regarding service delivery, the municipality noted the service delivery in respect of electricity, water, sanitation and waste collection has improved over the past five years, although a slide drop on water provision may be evident.
According the the report, the drop in water supply was a result of new settlements that emerged and the municipality is adamant the water issue is being addressed.
In terms of electricity, the annual report lists the Extention 32 substation project that will provide electricity to various households and relief to the existing power network.
In the 2017/2018 financial year, 0,5 kilometres of road had been upgraded from gravel to paved roads.
The other roads left to be upgraded were just in the design stage and resulted in them being moved to the current financial year.
However, the municipality is unwavering in that those roads will be attended to.
The total costs for the upgrading of the roads from gravel to paved surface was R 13,511,135 with a total length of 0,5 kilometres during the 2017/2018 financial year.
The issue of housing was addressed with the municipality noting a major project in the planning unit, which has rolled-over from preceding years, was the formalisation of informal settlements within the municipality so that the affected communities could have basic services.
As part of the municipality’s In-fill Development strategy, various vacant and in some cases informally settled 34 parcels of land, has been identified in Wesselton for this purpose and this seeks to maximise on the large tracts of unused parcels of land by subdividing them into residential stands and other complimentary uses.
The public will be happy to know the project is now 100 per cent complete.
The annual report is currently available at the office of the municipal manager, libraries, service delivery units and municipal website, www.msukaligwa.gov.za.
Community members and interested parties are invited to submit written comments regarding the report before 8 March.
(Source: Msukaligwa Municipality 2017/2018 draft annual report)
