21 April 2005

By Mogale City Reporter

MOGALE City has discussed its development plans with residents in a series of public meetings.

This is part of an annual process to explain the municipality's Integrated Development Plan (IDP), a document that pulls together all the plans and budgets of each municipal department ensuring that the municipality's development and planning philosophy is maintained.

The document highlights all the municipality's plans and these plans must be shaped by various inputs collected from all stakeholders.

And a vital part of drawing up and amending these wide-reaching plans is to get comment and suggestions from the ratepayers of the municipality.

This is done through a series of public meetings across Mogale City: from the rural areas to the suburbs and townships. This year roads shows, held in the middle of April, travelled to Magaliesburg, Kagiso, Muldersdrift, Tarlton, Munsieville, Hekpoort, Azaadville, Krugersdorp and Rietvallei.

The road shows, conducted by Mogale City mayoral committee members and council officials, covered all 32 wards, with meetings taking place in local halls.

The road shows give the City the chance to present planned and current development projects, keeping residents informed on the progress of such projects.

The meetings are also used to discuss service delivery and allow residents the opportunity to give the council feedback, voicing concerns and suggestions.

"It's very important for the city to conduct these road shows, because they give local residents an opportunity to voice their needs, but more importantly to participate in all city development projects," says Mogale City's director of marketing and communications, Jeff Nkosi.

Like all of South Africa's municipalities, Mogale City municipality is required to produce an IDP once a year.

Topics tackled in this year's road shows were wide-ranging and included the non-payment for services and access to water.

"The community response has been excellent in most areas and residents raised many different questions and suggestions," Nkosi says.

One issue noted by the road show teams was that some of the meetings received little attention from residents. "It's sad to note that some local residents still decide to excuse themselves from these meetings," Nkosi says, emphasising the importance of such meetings.

Road shows across Mogale City
IT'S that time of the year, when local government officials go on road shows to the various townships and suburbs across Mogale City to discuss service delivery and developmental plans with the residents.
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Call for input on development plans
The Mogale City Local Municipality has invited interested parties to submit comments on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for 2004/2005
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