Overview of the Ordinary Council Meeting of Sol Plaatje Municipality from the Speech of the Executive Mayor
- An Internet Café to Assist the local community has been opened in Richie.
The Café has 10 computers.
The area around the Café serve as a WIFI Hotspot. - The electrification project of Ivory Park is set to take off during this month of October.
- The refurbishing of the Newton Reservoir hit a snag as a result of bedrock. The removal of the bedrock requires chemical blasing delaying the project.
- As a result of persistent pipe bursts in the area of Nobengula and Adam Nomakola Streets 2km new PVC piping are being laid. The project is expected to take 3 month.
- The Municipality is proceeding with the development of the Mandela Precinct.
SPEECH OF THE EXECUTIVE MAYOR ON THE OCCASION OF THE ORDINARY COUNCIL MEETING ON 4 OCTOBER 2017
Honourable Speaker
Members of the Mayoral Committee
Councillors
Municipal Manager and Executive Directors
Members of the Media
Members of the public
Ladies and Gentlemen
I wish to take this opportunity to honour a stalwart in South African and African politics who would have turned 100 years on the 27th October 2017. All of us gathered here today owe the existence of this free and democratic state to sacrifices made by people like Oliver Reginald Tambo. In honouring his legacy we need to take a conscious decision to ensure that we improve the quality of lives of people in our everyday lives. There is also a need for us to demonstrate qualities of respect and honour among all of us in the chamber, as these were some of the strongest attributes Tambo had.
Allow me to congratulate the newly sworn in members of the Provincial legislature, National Council of Provinces and national assembly from the recently elected ANC
Provincial Executive Committee. We trust that this move will go along away in strengthening Governance across all spheres and made the voice of the Northern Cape stronger in both the NCOP and National ASSEMBLY. At a PROVINCIAL level the presence of the Provincial leadership will ensure implementation of the resolutions taken at the Provincial conference
As we enter this month we continue with programme of improving the lives of our people as part of our social contract we entered into after the 2016 local government election.
Internet Café
We have officially opened the Ritchie internet Café in Ritchie with intention of providing much needed services to the local community. This initiative was announced by me on the 18th July 2017 as part of the Nelson Mandela birthday celebrations.
The area around the Internet Café will also serve as a Wi-Fi hotspot, which will local youth to access information using their smartphones.
– The café has been activated. The café has 10 computers.
– The café will assist school children with researches and entrepreneurs to seek business opportunities.
– Entrepreneurs can also use the internet to access the Central Supplier Database and register their businesses.
This is a clear demonstration of our commitment to changing the lives of our impoverished communities and bringing back the dignity of our people
We also launched the new revamped Website of the Municipality on the same day of the opening of the Internet Café. This is an effort to ensure that the Website is a reflection of our new vision “Towards a leading and modern city”. We have decided to put our people at the centre of our service delivery and use every effort to ensure the improvement of their lives.
On Radical Socio- Economic transformation
Municipal Procurement is one of the strategic platforms to ensure that we develop and grow our economy by providing business opportunities for designated groups such as 100% black owned businesses, youth owned, women owned, MKVA owned, the list is long. We have adopted and since implemented the Preferential Procurement Regulations with effect from 1 April 2017.
We have introduced sub-contracting of local businesses for the developmental purposes where possible. This will develop a local pool of competent contractors in the medium to long term run. We are looking at ways and means to introduce social responsibilities as part of contribution to addressing the social ills within our society and providing other opportunities for locals through partnerships with businesses that with trade with in any form.
Ivory Park
The electrification project of Ivory Park is set to take off during this month of October. The launch date of the project will be communicated in due course. There entire development has 1 175 ervens and will be electrified all at once. As part of this project, the Roodepan Switch House must be upgraded and processes are underway to appoint a service provider to this effect. The switching of lights in Ivory Park is dependent on the completion of this project, and they will run concurrently.
Newton Reservoir Maintenance of manifolds and related network
As part of the strategy to refurbish and upgrade the infrastructure in Newton Reservoir, the project has hit a snag as a result of a bedrock that has been established during excavation of the line that is being upgraded. The removal of the bedrock requires chemical blasting and this was unforeseen. However, the matter is being addressed and we hope that soon that project will pick up the pace.
This project will contribute significantly on the reduction of purified water losses, the percentage has not been accurately estimated but based on the situation prior to the maintenance, large amounts of water are lost every second as a result of leakages of the total infrastructure.
Maintenance and Improvement of Bulk Infrastructure – Nobengula Extension and Adam Namukolo
As a result of persistent pipe bursts in the area of Nobengula and Adam Nomakola that resulted in flooding of houses in the area, we will be commissioning a pipe replacement project staring in this week. That pipeline is asbestos and cannot be fixed through normal maintenance work, but needs a total replacement of the system in the affected areas. The pipeline is about 2km and it will take about 3 months to complete the replacement. The project is planned such that there will be minimum water supply interruptions. However, where impractical to avoid this, provision will be made of mobile water supply and such disruptions will be communicated to communities in time.
# SANRAL PROJECT
# OVERSIGHT/ILL DISCIPLINE
Nelson Mandela Monument
We are proceeding with the development of the Mandela Precinct. I want to reiterate that in terms of Council Resolution C206/08/14, that Erf 2303 Galeshewe, at the RC Elliot Circle has been reserved for the Nelson Mandela Memorial Monument, all the land that is owned by the municipality on all sides of the circle is set aside for this purpose.
We have visited the Kind Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality, the homestead of Chief Mandela, the Albert Luthuli Museum (which we wish to benchmark the Robert Sobukwe House in Mayibuye Uprising Site), the Nelson Mandela Capture Site, the Solomon Mahlangu Site in Pretoria, the Proclamation Hill in Pretoria where received education on heritage, our own heritage as the people of South Africa. We did this solely to expose the new councillors to understand the ideas behind the concept we presented to Council and was adopted.
Chief Mandela and the chieftaincy have endorsed the development of the precinct and I quote “after having considered your presentation and observed the passion you have for the project, I fully endorse the development and the naming of the precinct, the Mandela Precinct, with the exclamation “AahhDalibhunga” right beneath the name of the precinct.” In African culture it is important that you get the blessings of the family of any individual you wish to celebrate or commemorate. We are happy that we have been given not only the green light but the family has declared its availability for any process related to the precinct.
We had forged a relationship with King Sabata Dalindyebo, the twinning agreement will be provided at the next council meeting.
In Conclusion let me take this opportunity to officially thank each and every participant of the Municipality in the recently held SAMSRA games in Rustenburg.
We are indeed honoured to have such passionate and committed employees who go out and give their best n an effort to put the name of the Municipality among the stars and flying our flag high. We must develop a formal strategy as a Municipality to ensure that our teams are active throughout the year and strengthen the coordination of all sporting codes to ensure that we improve in all areas.
1. TUG OF WAR : GOLD
2. DARTS :GOLD
3. TENNIS: SILVER
4. TABLE TENNIS: SILVER
5. SOCCER: SILVER
Honourable Councillors, we are indeed moving towards a leading and a modern city, and this is my dream…..
I Thank YOU
VIA SEKI SELEKE – SPOKESPERSON IN THE OF THE EXECUTIVE MAYOR
Shortlink for this post: https://www.kimberley.org.za/?p=16466
