EXECUTIVE MAYOR’S FIVE YEAR PLAN STATEMENT

Our council was formally constituted on the 10th March 2006 and the Mayoral Committee was announced a few days later.On the 30th May 2006, we passed our annual budget and IDP for the new term of office. One of the important tasks has been that of the election of the Ward Committees so as to influence the review of IDP priorities per ward. All serving ward committee need to work so as to strengthen the sectors that are represented in the ward committees. This plan serves to highlight some of the important issues relating to our five year programme during the term of Office of this council. We are taking this opportunity to share some information regarding our five year programme in this introduction of Councilors here at Jabavu Stadium on this 3rd day of September2006. We are here to introduce all the elected councilors to the communities of the NelsonMandelaMetropolitanMunicipality.

NelsonMandelaMetropolitanMunicipality was formed in 2000 when we had the democratic elections at local government on 5 December 2000. We all have the collective responsibility of uniting people to work towards a better life, to build sustainable, integrated and dynamic communities. The Councilors held a strategic session during the month of August 2006 and has spent sometime in looking at the challenges we face for the next five years. There is no doubt a foundation has been laid during the past five years. To ensure that our goals are realized we have adopted in our IDP the following key strategic priorities and we have used this solid foundation to build our plan:

  • Institutional transformation and development
  • Service delivery and infrastructure development
  • Socio-economic development
  • Financial management and sustainability
  • Best practices and sound governance
  • Safety and sustainable environment
  • Public participation

Our term of office coincides with many important anniversary dates within the history of SouthAfrica, 30th anniversary of the Youth, 10thAnniversary of the adoption of the Constitution by an elected constitutional Assembly, 51st anniversary of the Freedom Charter, 50th anniversary of the Women’s March and the 60th anniversary of the African Mine Worker’s Strike of 1946. We are here today to celebrate the arrival of the new dawn that contributes to inspire our people. We must work together to achieve the objective of a better life for all our people.

To commence with the improvement of our human resource as well as our operational systems in the municipality to implement the Integrated Development Plan, we have for this five year term appointed Mr. Graham Richards as the Municipal Manager with effect from the 1st of August 2006. It will be his responsibility to continue to develop a team of dedicated and committed leaders to manage our resources effectively and efficiently and to bring about service delivery to realize the arrival of the new dawn. We will strive to ensure that the restructuring process is speeded up so as to ensure that our municipal processes are streamlined. We will develop a clear strategy on skills development and employment equity through development of an effective efficient implementable human resource turn around strategy. The monitoring and evaluation will include an integrated performance management system.

It is our responsibility to ensure effective administration as well as the monitoring of, and effective implementation of the IDP. Key to this task will be the establishment of the IDP representative forum so as to create an awareness of the various developmental projects for each business unit. We will also ensure that the budget is aligned with the IDP. Our key strategic task will also to establish and implement the knowledge management system. We will also tofast track the implementation of Multi-Purpose Community Centres.

We will be continuing to strengthen our system of local government in the next five years as that is a cornerstone to enhanced service delivery within NelsonMandelaBay. This should not only be looked in the context of administration,alone but is also more importantly about the functioning of our councilors and our ward committees, both of which have to maintain the closest possible contact with the residents of their wards and respond to their needs. This is critical as fundamental to developmental local government that assists in the eradication of the legacy of the past. The municipality will also ensure that it promotes sound laborrelations, as labor, peace contribute to productivity and reflects a latent and committed work force.

Amongst many tasks of the councilors is to ensure that they report back to and interact with the local communities at ward level. We will further promote political accountability and compliance amongst councilors. There will be performance assessment done amongst all councilors and committees of council. That would give them an opportunity to regularly inform the communities about the work of the government and to listen to the views and needs of the communities. This should be done in the context of the implementation of WardBased Planning in all the 60 wards of the NelsonMandelaBay. AllCouncilors in particular wardcouncilors are criticalin achieving development so we need to support them all the time in their initiatives and efforts.

The essential task of mobilizing communities to become active in building sustainable communities, to participate in the development of our society and to set realistic priorities and programmes for local governance structures where people live is a responsibility that all councilors will be undertaking. We will ensure that councilors are well resourced to carry their work in communities. At the same time we will monitor the work of councilors and set particular standards that they must meet in making local government work better for all communities.

As this is Women’s month we need to give serious attention to the challenges that are facing our women in particular in addressing their needs. As the first step we will consolidate and strengthen all women structures within the metro so as to support them in becoming equal partners in society. The emancipation of women must not be a talk show it must be implemented on all fronts , politics , economy , education , sport and at home. As the municipality we have attended to the issue of 50% policy through the deployment of our councilors. This must become a symbol for society to follow and to give women of NelsonMandelaBay an equal space in society to interact fully and to make a full contribution to the tasks of uniting our people.

To make our municipality more accessible our citizens, we will be setting up additional Customer Care Centers which must serve as one stop shopsin Westering,Sherwood,Kuyga, Bluewater Bay, Well Estate,Soweto, Veeplaas and KwaLanga in Uitenhage during our term of office. We will ensure that all these offices are fully serviced and are able to address all the needs of our communities. The presence of well resourced municipal offices in areas where the majority of our people live will be a historical break with the past legacy that we inherited. This will be our shared destiny, where municipal offices will be fully utilized and administration will decentralized through ensuring effective utilization of both Uitenhage and Despatch areas. As the Municipality we strive to ensure sustainable and improved revenue generation and collection.

We will be improving our complaints centre response to provide a 24-hour service to all citizens through establishing an effective and efficient call centre so as address the current limitationsat addressing problems of our residents. We will be addressing the problems of skills and capacity within our municipality we are experiencing in our human resource especially technicians and engineers through prioritizing these skills and allocating bursary funds and improving competency levels.

OPTION ONEOPTION TWOOPTION THREE

  1. Mike Xego1. Mike Xego1. Mike Xego
  2. Nceba Faku2. Bicks Ndoni2. Beza Ntshona
  3. Beza Ntshona3. Beza Ntshona3. Mthie Ndube
  4. Charmaine Williams ( Minority ) F4. Helen August4. C. Williams
  5. Mthwabo Ndube5. Balu Naran5. Balu Naran
  6. Patricia Nombiba F
  7. Mike Koenaite ( UTH )
  8. Vuyo Toto
  9. Eugene Johnson ( Minority )
  10. Monde Mtanga
  11. Bicks Ndoni
  12. Helen August ( Minority ) ( UTH ) F
  13. Thobekile Lawu ( UTH )
  14. Nancy Sihlwayi F
  15. Marion Sparg ( Minority ) F
  16. Elridge Jerry ( Minority )
  17. Josephine Siwisa
  18. Arnold Scholtz ( Minority )
  19. Didiza Batyi ( UTH ) F
  20. Simphiwe Kibi

The IDP and Budget has programmes aimed at improving the quality of life through speeding service delivery. The budget has an increase of 25 % which clearly signifies the seriousness of improving the quality of life of the residents of the NelsonMandelaBay.

The budget has increased for budget and treasury, electricity, roads and storm water,sanitation, water services, Recreational and cultural services which is clearly indicative of our resolve to address the challenges of service delivery. This is clearly in keeping with our plan that all NelsonMandelaBay will have access to clean water and decent sanitation by 2010.

The NelsonMandelaBayMetropolitanMunicipality has since January 2004 signed a cooperative agreement preparing the transformation of its electricity business into a Metro RED and we are currently at an advanced stage. The metro still has to comply with legislative requirements before the envisaged Metro RED launch in 2007.

Residents throughout NelsonMandelaBay have a responsibility to protect the investments made ininfrastructure. Theft of electricity equipment and illegal connections are a danger to our society and are causing unwanted power failures. Communities are encouraged to report illegal connections and theft of electricity equipment through our safety and Security Business Unit and local Customer Care Centers in areas where they exist.

We are developing a plan to deal with illegal dumping of waste, especially on open spaces .Illegal dumping and littering is unproductive and places an unnecessary burden on our scarce resources that could have been applied for other needy services. We call on all residents to have pride in keeping all areas in the Metro neat and clean. This will have to be done through clamping down on illegal dumping and to transform these opens spaces into parks and community gardens. We need to make a collective effort to create clean wards so as to create a clean city. Ward Councilors and Ward committees will have to assist in order for us to be able to achieve this noble goal.

In the next five years we will be implementing an intensive community participation plan so as to be able to transform our communities to be sustainable. That will be done through ensuring effective community based planning and community participation. Within our term of office we will strive to improve community participation and community outreach programs so as to constantly consult with various stakeholders’ and individuals within the Metro as outlined in our IDP. In line with our promise that no community will use the bucket system by 2007,we are working towards this deadline and are implementing an integrated infrastructural plan which will address this challenge. There are however in our City many buckets within informal settlements where there is no proper sanitation due to a number of reasons.

We are committed to ensuring that every resident has access to clean water and decent sanitation by 2010 and that all houses will have access to electricity by 2012. We undertake to:

  • Do an audit of all areas that do not have access to clean water and decent sanitation in the region and the status of current plans to ensure clean water and decent sanitation in these areas.
  • Develop a comprehensive plan to ensure access to clean water and decent sanitation by 2010 in the areas identified. Develop a multi- year budget reflecting how clean water and decent sanitation will be accessed in these communities by 2010.
  • Collect data on houses in the Metro that do not have access to electricity and status of current plans to ensure all houses will have access to electricity.
  • Develop a plan to ensure that all houses will have access to electricity by 2012.

The next five years will see a comprehensive and integrated approach in dealing with HIV and AIDS in the Metro and that will require our considerable vigilance and total commitment .We’ll re-commit ourselves to a program of action to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS. Managing the impact of HIV and AIDS remains a fundamental challenge.

We will develop an integrated HIV and AIDS strategy as well as monitoring and evaluation system. We will strengthen the Local AIDS Council and align our programme with other stakeholders. Part of the work over the next five years will include developing a programme to support those who are infected and affected by this pandemic.

We will also strengthen our partnership with civil society as we forge ahead with the fight against HIV and AIDS. We’ll ensure comprehensive primary health care as well as to establish and strengthen Ward Based Primary Health Care and integrated teams. Health services will have be made more accessible by building more health centers that are adequately staffed to render comprehensive services to the entire community. Resources will be made available through working with the Provincial government to extend health center working hours for the provision of primary health care.

The Nelson Mandela Metro growth and development strategy has been developed and approved. What is critical now will be to convene a Summit for growth and development so as to be able to monitor our program for growth and development, including challenges for other spheres of government. This will also assist towards local economic growth and poverty reduction. We will also ensure that we improve our economic investment and tourism growth as tourism continues to play a critical role in stimulating our local economy. We will continue to encourage communities and all stakeholders in the tourism sector to ensure that we bring new investments into this growing industry.

The summit will also develop a strategyto achieve our primary growth targetof at least

5% over the next five years to reach the national growth target of 6 % for the period 2010-2014 and to halve unemployment rate from current levels by 2014. We will intensify our partnerships so as to decrease unemployment within the Metro. We commit ourselves to strengthening relations with other municipalities as well as with national and provincial government. We will further continue to intensify and develop a clear strategy and approach for international and Intergovernmental relations. This will be done in the context of an analysis of existing relations and partnerships and the impact therefore also where needs arises for exploring the establishment of new relationships and/or partnerships.

The tarring of gravel roads addressing the backlog and the upgrading and general maintenance of roads and storm water systems will be a focus in our term of office. Special attention will be given to the creation of jobs and the implementation of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). The main target will be the construction of new roads, mainly in the previously disadvantaged areas.

As the NelsonMandelaBayMetropolitanMunicipality we will ensure that we improve on our way of providing houses and to ensure that we accelerate the delivery quality houses. The municipality will ensure that we are building sustainable communities and improving quality of existing low income housing. We will also combat corruption in the administration of housing waiting lists. We will ensure that over the next five years all informal settlements that are situated on safe and appropriately designed land will be formalized. All informal settlements situated on unsuitable land like floodplains, tip sites will be relocated as a matter of urgency.

The focus in the immediate future will be the involvement of beneficiaries in the building of their own homes. Our strategy will entail formulation of an integrated housing and land delivery program for the next five years. The municipality will further investigate alternative sources of funding for housing delivery.

Our strategic priority is to continue to see safer and secure communities within the Metro. This will be done in the context of speeding the establishment of the Metro police. The municipality will also ensure the protection of council assets and staff. We will further ensure that we develop a strategy to acquire alternative sources of funding for disaster management throughout the Metro.

The Summary of the Five Year plan is as follows:

  1. CapacityBuilding and Skills Development
  • Shall ensure that the conduct of a skills audit is part of the key deliverables of Municipal managers.
  • Shall implement performance management throughout the municipality.
  • Shall ensure that performance management system is aligned to the IDP and the budget.
  1. Economic Growth and Development
  • Must take up the challenge of further developing sustainable economy.
  • Shall facilitate the convening of the Growth and Development Summits during 2006.
  1. Community Participation , Communication , Civil Society and Local Government
  • All Ward committees to have undergone basic training by January 2007 in collaboration with Salga and DPLG.
  • Community development workers (CDW’s) be utilized as a resource to ward councilors in coordinating and supporting the ward committees programs and ensure that there are other government departments especially in the IDP processes.
  • In collaboration with other spheres of government we will ensure that there is at least one CDW per ward, where recruitment will be from members of the local community.
  1. Municipal International Relations
  • Promote and strengthen partnerships with other Metro’s and local municipalities.
  • Consider establishing partnership with cities in other African Countries in the context of NEPAD.
  1. Social Development

Gender