Polokwane Municipality’s IDP focused on balance

Polokwane Municipality strives to provide services in such a way that it creates a balance between rural and urban areas. This was the message of Chief Whip of Council, Mamedupi Teffo during the opening of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP)/Budget Representative Forum at the Jack Botes Hall last Thursday.
The meeting was attended by senior officials of the municipality, which included Water and Sanitation Manager Monyamane Makoti, Marketing and Communications Manager in the Transportation Division Mantlako Sebaka, Corporate and Shared Services Director Maggie Matshivha, Community Services Director Ramakuntwane Selepe and Chief Financial Officer Nazeem Essa.
Representing the community were delegates from organised stakeholder groups, special focus formations, academic institutions, organised business, parastatals, SMMEs and provincial sector departments, among others.
Teffo said the municipality prides itself that it has completed the first phase of the electrification of rural areas and is now busy with implementing the approved priority list for new extensions in the rural areas in partnership with Eskom.

“We are continuing with maintenance of roads and we are busy with a plan to provide proper roads in all areas including rural areas as we understand that roads infrastructure is critical to economic activity of an area,” she said.
“The municipal area is currently experiencing water challenges in both the rural and urban settings. This is receiving attention and both the municipality and Lepelle Northern Water are implementing measures to address the situation. We apologise to all stakeholders for this inconvenience and we appreciate your patience as we are working on this,” she added.
According to Teffo, some of the challenges experienced by the municipality and making it difficult to close the backlog is due to uncoordinated new rural settlements. “This makes it difficult because we cannot plan in advance for water, sanitation, roads and electricity in these areas,” she explained.
Teffo appealed to stakeholders, including traditional leaders, to assist in the fight against vandalism of water and electrical infrastructure.
“The main purpose of this forum meeting is to present the IDP status quo analysis report and to obtain comments and inputs from various stakeholders prior to approval by Council, in line with the process plan. The analysis phase is the first step for the review of the IDP so that the planning process is informed by the true reflection of affairs on the ground,” Teffo concluded.

Story & photos: BARRY VILJOEN
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