Excellent foundation for upcoming elections
As the elections draw near, let’s look to even bigger and better things in the next local government dispensation.
GIVE credit when it is due and constructive criticism when it is deserved.
That is a healthy maxim; one this newspaper wholeheartedly supports.
With that in mind, we can only commend the excellent review of the past year presented by Mayor Mdu Mhlongo during his State of the City (SOCA) address on Saturday.
Seasoned journalists are well aware of attempts by speech-makers to ‘window dress’ issues, so as to artificially enhance achievements, or to ‘waffle on’ without giving any tangible content.
(This is generally exposed by the brevity of the notes taken.)
This was certainly not the case over the weekend, when numerous topics were tackled – logically and factually.
It was done in such a way that there was measurable content, linked to projects and expressed in rands.
In other words: what was done, and the money that was spent to get it done.
It particularly brought it down to the level of service delivery, which is what any municipality should strive to do.
The honest presentation itself did not allow for ducking of any issues.
It followed the format of ‘What we said we would do’ and ‘What we did in fact do’.
Though the mayor admitted his council and officials had not achieved perfection, he rightly boasted that ‘our victories far outweigh our failures’.
Of course, this was not owing to the efforts of the ruling party alone. But even then, getting all councillors to pull in the same direction for the betterment of people’s lives is an achievement in itself and testifies to well-run council meetings.
The city certainly has direction and its future is well mapped.
If this was a report card, we would score it as an ‘A’, one of which we can be proud – especially when compared with many (if not most) municipalities in the country.
Is there room for improvement? Decidedly so.
And it can begin with filling the many vacant positions on the municipal organogram… with the right people.
As the elections draw near, let’s look to even bigger and better things in the next local government dispensation.
