Maxwell Mkhacani Chauke: Permanent MM for Giyani
After more than five years of operating without a permanent municipal manager, Greater Giyani Municipality has appointed Chauke to the position.
LIMPOPO – Chauke has vast experience in terms of working in a municipal environment as five years in middle management and 10 years in senior management. His highest qualification is a B.Tech degree in civil engineering and he is currently enrolled for a M.Tech degree at the Tshwane University of Technology.
He is also a registered member with the Engineering Council of South Africa and the South Africa Institute of Engineers. His experience includes working nine years for Transnet, five of which were spent working at a managerial level.
Chauke worked at Mutali Municipality from 2006 to 2012 as a technical manager before moving to the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (GoGHSTA) as a technical advisor for the then minister, Richard Baloyi, who’s currently an ambassador in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Chauke has furthermore worked with as he worked with CoGTA minister, Des Van Rooyen, as part of the Municipality Structure Support Agent which helped municipalities in the country to manage their service delivery backlog.
Asked how he would help the municipality attain clean audits, Chauke said he would first deal with the findings from the last audit to determine where the municipality needs to improve.
“My plan is to come up with a turnaround strategy,” he said.
He added he had picked up a few issues he needs to iron out, especially in the finance department.
“The situation is not okay in terms of the audit opinions and some internal controls need to be improved. The best option to handle it is to start by addressing the findings by the Auditor General.”
The new municipal manager also indicated the need to address issues of land disputes in order to fast-track development in Giyani.
He said there were “some land issues” the municipality needed to address to speed up development, especially where land is owned by tribal offices.
Asked how he would handle the issue of illegal structures in Giyani, he said he would approach each case separately as some structures might need formalisation.
“One needs to consider the fact that some structures might be illegal in terms of registration but are serving a good purpose where they are situated whereas others do not,” he explained.
