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iLGM Gala Dinner Address
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.
Programme Director This morning we kick-started an important gathering that seeks to evolve new ways of doing things in the local government sphere. We gather here this evening to cement the relationships we created and to ensure that conference delivers fruitful results for all of us going forward. This conference occurs against the backdrop of a recessionary economic situation that we concede presents resource constraints on municipalities. It occurs amidst service delivery protests all over the country. It therefore presents leadership challenges for all, both for the political and administrative leadership of municipalities. The recent COGTA assessment of the state of local government laid stress on the aspect of having credible leadership spearheading true socio-economic transformation for the benefit of all our people in this critical sphere of government. No municipality can function when the legitimacy of its political leadership is under question. Therefore, we are required to ensure the “effectiveness, capability and integrity of the local political council leadership.” It has become apparent to all of us that the votes that our people give to political parties shall never be a blank cheque by which those who govern can make of them as they please. It means that as our democracy matures, our people’s vigilance will also increase and they will get more assertive about the things they want and need. This means that our state of readiness to respond to their demands should also be above reproach. The two areas we must navigate when these demands confront us are that our people’s needs shall never match the resources we will have whether there is a recession or not. It is the nature of economics that resources are forever limited whereas community needs rise each passing day. Also, the majority of municipalities are involved in somewhat cumbersome efforts of addressing the legacy of skewed development of our apartheid past. This is not something that the majority of our people will readily understand because of the conditions of deprivation that they live under. Poverty shall remain the greatest threat to our democracy. It questions what abundance is or even its longevity when there are vast pockets of poverty in our midst. In the academic world, there are questions we can pose and rationalise with for hours on end. We can ask what the business of an awakened and kind-hearted national is: are we involved in poverty eradication or poverty alleviation? For poor people, there is no such luxury. Poor people are pitted against the terror of hunger and want at the crack of every dawn, in broad daylight and when the sun has set. It is sad because most would prefer death than deal with the daily challenges of lack of livelihood. The next challenge is that enemies of progress remain ready to exploit the needs and wants of our people to advance their selfish agendas. This is something we cannot avoid since for every interest, good or bad, there shall always be a contending interest. Perhaps the advantage of the current system is that the programme we drive for a united, non-racist, non-sexist, peaceful and prosperous South Africa is not imposed. It is a programme born of and endorsed by the majority of our people. All it requires is that we should increase the opportunity for accounting to and engagement with as well as regular assessment by our people. We should ensure that our local democracy is enhanced to minimise discontent and to deny space to charlatans that pretend to have the best interests of our people at heart. In terms of provision of administrative leadership, we should all build organisational capacity that embraces both closer linkages and cooperation between administration and politicians as well as embody the Batho Pele culture. We therefore agree with the message and counsel of the Deputy Minister, Cde Yunus Carrim when he encouraged us to eliminate unnecessary contest between politics and administration and find synergies for effective service delivery. The new cadre we need in the local government sphere is one who lives and breathes putting the people first. We need to be actively empathetic and responsive to the plight of our people as we serve them in our institutions for as long as these institutions are established and run in their name. For in the end, it would be an act of utter betrayal when we abandon the people as soon as we reach the comfort of our offices. With these few words, we wish to welcome you once again to the City of Human Origin. We hope that you can feel that we put you first as visitors to this warm city. We trust that you will find time to return to our city for business and leisure in the not too distant future. I thank you
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Mayor Koketso Calvin Seerane
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