Address by the Honourable Executive Mayor of Mogale City Local Municipality, Cllr. Koketso Calvin Seerane at the Business Achiever Awards Function hosted by the MCCI at the Centenary Hall, Civic Centre Mogale City.

04 December 2009

Programme Director,
Executive Mayor of the West Rand District Municipality, Ald. Faith Matshikiza
Speaker of Mogale City Local Municipality, Cllr Noluthando Mangole
Members of the Mayoral Committee here present
Executive Mayors here present
Municipal Manager, Mr Dan Mashitisho
Senior Managers of the Mogale City Local Municipality
Staff members of Mogale City Local Municipality

This is a proud moment in the history of our municipality. Ever since 1994, the government led by the African National Congress has single-mindedly worked on establishing a working governance system that ensures rapid and seamless service delivery for the people of South Africa. The ANC identified long ago that local authorities would be the most critical of spheres of government in ensuring service delivery because it is closest to communities. This focus started with overhauling old and racially divided municipalities, combining or fragmenting others. Mogale City is a product of that overhaul and reorganisation.

For the past decade Mogale City has been focused on creating a better revenue base for itself so that it is able to offer high quality services on a sustainable basis. We are now a plus R1 billion budget municipality and growing.

We have also focused on perfecting our administrative systems to ensure that service delivery occurs in an environment that facilitates proper planning and implementation for decision-makers and full accountability to all stakeholders.

We believe that we have achieved these objectives. This was made possible by the passion and energy of the entire staff. We thank you all for your tireless effort and urge you to keep the momentum. We want to thank the councillors for keeping a close eye on things when executing their oversight role. This collaboration and cooperation between the political and administrative arms of the institution should be maintained and improved going forward.

Our efforts have been rewarded with the unqualified report we received from the Auditor-General. We are part of 3% of municipalities that received a clean audit from the AG. We will work relentlessly to ensure the success of the CLEAN AUDIT BY 2014 Campaign which the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs launched, which means that we will stop at nothing to ensure that we adhere to municipal legislation when we perform our duties.

Our municipality has also been hard at work at taking back the streets from unruly elements to law abiding communities. We have been doing so with limited resources that almost made it impossible to give full effect to our by-laws and regulations. We have acquired a new vehicle fleet to help our public safety officers to raise the bar in law enforcement. We unveil this fleet to pass a strong message to those serial law-breakers that their days are numbered.

We want to conclude on another positive note. Mogale City has been commended by other municipalities in a recent COGTA Assessment for being amongst the best in communication with communities. We want to share this important announcement with you today that the 2010 FIFA World Cup is upon us and we have demonstrated during the recent Confederations Cup that Mogale City is actually ready for the big event. Our city will not host any matches during the soccer spectacle, but we will certainly receive thousands of fans during the tournament. We are proud to announce that the five times winners of the World Cup, Brazil, will be based in Mogale City. We will also host the Australian national team as well as Germany’s management and technical team. These are crucial endorsements for the City of Human Origin which will put the spotlight on us as well as attract much-needed revenue. We want to encourage all staff members to continue the good effort of being Ambassadors of the Ultimate Fan City for 2010. As the profile and reputation of our city continues to grow, all of us need to protect and sustain it.

These are interesting times for the city. As this wonderful year draws to a close, we want to wish all those who will be taking long trips home to meet their loved ones to travel safely. Remember that we are also the custodians of the Arrive Alive Campaign. We want you to enjoy your holiday and return in one piece next year, with renewed energy so that we can continue to raise the name of this magnificent city together. We wish you a peaceful and happy festive season, and hope for a prosperous new year for you and your families as well as the municipality.

I thank you