Ms Thandi Ngxonono, executive mayor for Govan Mbeki Municipality, was in the hot seat when disgruntled entrepreneurs expressed their opinions about her and council leadership during the Local Economic Development Summit on Thursday, 27 June.
The summit was held at Lilian Ngoyi Center with the aim to form a committee which will represent all business forums in the area. The theme of the summit was Industrialise, diversify, incubate and educate for economic prosperity.
There are six pillars intended to be used to boost the local economy, namely: the Govan Mbeki Industrialisation Programme, the SMME and Cooperatives Incubation Programme, the Tourism Hub Development Programme, the Warehousing and Logistics Hub Development Programme, Education, the Skills and Capacity Development Programme and the Marketing and Investment Promotion Programme.
https://www.facebook.com/echoridgenewspapers/videos/296434827829903/
“These pillars are segmented based on our geographical coverage and economic strength of our region. Our town presents a plethora of economic factors to which we have a mandate to exploit for the benefit of our local economy, ” said Ms Ngxonono.
“The Secunda Industrial Park is at the top of our agenda to which we have completed the feasibility studies. We are ready to start with the implementation once council approves the next steps. We are of the view that the LED Summit will equip us with the necessary information to understand the dynamics and intricacies of our environment.
“Very importantly, this engagement should tell us how far we have come in addressing unemployment, poverty and inequality.”
The mayor’s speech was followed by presentations from various companies.
https://www.facebook.com/echoridgenewspapers/videos/2350831321648220/
When the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) took to the stage to make a presentation, the summit turned tense.
The presenter was disrupted by the entrepreneurs who said they do not want to hear anything from the agency.
The programme director tried to calm the down the crowd, however, he was told keep quiet and to return to his home town.
They questioned the municipality for bringing an outsider to facilitate the summit.
“We do not want people from other municipalities, we know our problems and we want solve them ourselves.
https://www.facebook.com/echoridgenewspapers/videos/410662896190711/
“We are in this crisis today, because our municipality lacks leadership, ” said Mr Mduduzi Mahlangu of Sivukile Business Forum. In other places the LED structures are work well, however, here it does not work because politicians and officials have business interests.
“We were thinking that this summit will address those issues, instead you bring outsiders to make presentations.
“We do not want that, we want to deal with our problems,” said Mr Mahlangu
Ms Ngxonono tried to calm the entrepreneurs, but to no avail. It was then decided to adjourn the summit.
She later told Ridge Times that she was shocked by the disruption and did not anticipate the disgruntled reaction.
“This just shows us that they were not ready, however, we will convene another summit soon.”
https://www.facebook.com/echoridgenewspapers/videos/2294129790641015/
