THE recently elected mayor of the Zululand District Municipality (ZDM), Cllr Mpiyakhe Alson Hlatshwayo, is not afraid to fill the ‘big gap’ left by the president of the National Freedom Party (NFP), Zanele KaMagwaza Msibi.
She has been appointed as Deputy Minister of Science and Technology in the National Assembly.
Hlatshwayo, who was Speaker of ZDM, was elected unopposed.
Cllr OV Mbuyisa, an EXCO Councillor has replaced Hlatshwayo as the Speaker of the Council, while Cllr Sphamandla Ntombela was sworn-in as an Exco member.
All were elected unopposed.
Speaking at his inauguration, Mayor Hlatshwayo thanked the NFP leadership for ‘trusting me to the point of deciding to deploy me as Mayor of the Zululand District.
‘I want to specifically convey my sincerely thanks to our President and my predecessor, KaMagwaza-Msibi as the leader of our party.
‘KaMagwaza-Msibi was well-known as a hard-worker and people believed it was always going to be difficult to replace her.
‘I know I am filling-in a big gap, but it is not going to be a difficult task because for years I have served under her and got an opportunity to learn all the leadership and hardworking skills from her.’
‘I am going to continue where she left-off,’ Hlatshwayo said.
Background
Cllr Hlatshwayo is not new to the position of Mayor.
He served as the Mayor of the eDumbe Local Municipality for almost two terms until 2010 when he was recalled by the IFP.
He said he was going to continue with all the programmes started by his predecessor including the LED programmes where all 89 wards under ZDM were allocated R60 000 each to start income-generating projects and R20 000 for widows and orphans’ income generating projects.
‘I have no intentions to phase-out good programmes and work started by my predecessor as I am a witness that the people from our district loved and supported them all the way.
‘I am prepared to do all I can to ensure the improvement of the lives of the people of our Zululand district,’ Hlatshwayo said.
