Mayor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mayor
Mayor Cllr M.J Phokane

Mayor's overview on the progress made by the municipality since the start of the 2011/12 Financial year

The Municipality has just emerged from the second quarter EXCO Lekgotla where the review was made in terms of the performance of the departments. We are satisfied about the work done by various departments in the quest to realise the vision of the Municipality. Our mandate is to deliver quality and sustainable projects to our communities. We are glad that most of the capital projects on roads have been completed before the heavy down pour experienced in the Province. Of great importance we have complement our governance system by establishing ward management committees in all 31 wards. This will assist us greatly in communicating with our constituencies in an effective way.

We have taken important resolutions that must be implemented to speed up service delivery and to address gaps identified in the first quarter. We have utmost confidence in our administration that the resolutions made will be implemented as a matter of urgency. Our main challenge is on the grading of the access roads. Our roads have been washed away by the rain and graders at our disposal cannot grade all roads at once. We have entered into a working relationship with the Department of Roads and transport to make sure that they assist us to grade all roads which are in a bad state. This project will take place in all wards and we would like to appeal to our people to exercise patience and calm during the grading stage.

We are going to start with the construct of access bridges in 6 villages and this will bring much relief to areas that were cut off from the other side. Our people will be enabled to receive services that could not reach them due to accessibility. The provision of electricity is still a major challenge faced by the Municipality. In terms of backlog our Municipality is having a large number as compared to other Municipalities in the Sekhukhune District. This can be attributed to many factors amongst them the issue of capacity. As a short term solution the Municipality is busy providing Solar energy which is going to benefit 2000 households. This is a temporary solution until the issue of capacity is addressed in the affected villages. In addition we are going to electrify 9 villages and this will significantly reduce the backlog.

We have also witnessed the construction of 3 shopping malls with a total value of over R1 billion which will provide many job opportunities within and after the construction. This is an indication that our Municipality is growing and need such facilities to complement the economic growth. Our revenue base is also going to growth because of the services that we are going to render in the Malls.

Our vision is to create a Platinum City for the benefit of all and all the developments that are taking place build towards the realisation of the vision. We will continue with our quest to provide basic services to our people and we take this opportunity to appreciate the cooperation that we are receiving from all sectors of the society.

I wish you well and thank you.