Meet the new mayor of Mogale City: Danny Thupane

Not even a week after the council meeting which saw the Executive Mayor, Speaker of Council and Chief Whip dethroned, another special council meeting was held for these three positions to be filled.

The new Executive Mayor of Mogale City, Councillor Danny Thupane from the African Transformation Movement said that he will be putting his team together for them to hit the ground running.

With three councillors not being able to attend, the voting continued with only 74 of the 77 councillors of Mogale City Local Municipality casting. The first vote was for the Speaker of Council. The African National Congress’ Lucky Sele who was already the acting speaker, won the vote with 43 for him and 31 for former speaker Alderman Jacqueline Pannall.

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Sele said that April is Freedom Month and during this time the people can reflect on the progress of democracy. He said freedom is not enough if there are still people suffering.

“It is our responsibility to serve the people of Mogale City,” he said.

Thupane went up against former mayor, councillor Tyrone Gray. In the end, 43 councillors voted for Thupane and 31 voted for Gray.

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In his acceptance speech, Thupani said he is confident their management team will steer the municipality to higher places.

“It is a responsibility that we do not take for granted and we will execute with the utmost dedication and passion. The people of Mogale City deserve nothing less than dedication, empathetic listening and a responsive government that is in touch with the wants and needs of the people.

“We have recently seen that it has always been possible to deliver services to the people even at extraordinary hours of the day. We have over the last year and a few months seen potholes in the streets and suburbs being closed during the awkward hours of the day, some of them at night. It is abundantly clear, that this type of service can be extended to the people of the townships and per i-urban areas. In a similar vein, there is no excuse for one area of our city to receive services while others are neglected. Residents need to be able to walk, drive or exercise on our streets, without hindrance. We also do not need to be reminded that a sign of the presence of government is when roads are properly marked.”

He wants to focus on the areas of service delivery that are lagging and fix them by using the resources available to do the basic things right. Adding that this includes grass cutting, cleaning cemeteries, eliminating illegal dumping sites, timeous collection of waste and reducing our carbon footprint.

Thapane brought up water disruptions and said that clean drinking water is a human right and said they will strengthen communication regarding this.

“We will strengthen our cooperation with agencies and entities of government and the private sector to ensure a steady supply of energy to households across the city even though it is a national problem. We will look at creative ways that will protect the residents of Mogale City from the devastating effects of load-shedding.”

He said this will be done to reduce the negative effects of the municipality’s financial audits.

“We will ensure that opportunities are spread far and wide in the city for residents to recover from the economic effects of Covid-19 which all of us still experience to this very day. none of our residents should feel excluded from this revival and that we are committed to fostering and executing forthwith.”

He said he wants to encourage residents who can pay for services to do so on a constant and consistent basis. The municipality’s services will remain constrained and handicapped otherwise.

“We also encourage those who meet the criteria for the indigent registration to take advantage of the services so that the municipality can get a clear picture of where its revenue currently comes from and to know who among residents of the city require assistance.”

Last to be voted in was the Chief Whip and this position was taken by Councillor Tsholofelo Ramaisa.