MUNICIPAL MANAGER

Dr V.J. MTHEMBU

MUNICIPAL MANAGER’S OVERVIEW

The Big 5 Hlabisa Local Municipality remains focused on delivering on its mandate and functions and I am happy to be getting this maximum cooperation from the whole staff and colleagues and our delivery partners as well as other Spheres of Government.

We have developed our strategies based on the review of the baseline information to come to the second that informed our Integrated Development Plan (IDP). In the next financial year, I will be concluding the process of organizational review that is inclusive of resources required to implement such as administrative structure. The process of reviewing the organizational structure has been delayed due to the limitations on our resources. Amongst other considerations in achieving the strategy as adopted by Council.

We remain proud with the efforts we have put on both the level of awareness about service delivery record, information dissemination, stakeholder engagements and the public participation processes. These efforts have paid off as manifested by less service delivery protests experienced during the current financial year. We have had reasonable and stable labour peace in our environment and this is attributed to functional relationship we continue to enjoy with the Unions within the Local Forum and this relationship will be even more important as we move forward. We continue to work hard to reduce the cost of running this municipality through employing austerity measures including realizing value for money. All the financial and non-financial measures in the next financial year are geared towards improving our audit performance from the unqualified audit to a clean audit opinion consistent with the operation “Clean Audit”.

We have put our ducts in a row to achieve a clean audit. To this end we have made appointments of members for the Audit Committee for a period of three (3) years and I have no doubt that the skill mix in the Committee will help us to achieve the clean audit objective. Oversight by the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) has brought new impetus and focus within the municipality. The Integrated Development 5 Plan we are presenting here has been structured in accordance with legal requirements of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, No. 32 of 2000. The diagnostic analysis conducted has assisted us to determine service delivery gaps and backlogs thus enabling us to craft relevant strategies and sector plans. These are captured in detail herein.

In order to ensure streamlined development in the entire region we developed a Spatial Development Framework to which all development should be aligned. In order to achieve the plans and objectives we have set for the 2020/21 financial year we have allocated a budget which defines the resources to be used. In this IDP we have also looked critically at the objectives we intend to achieve and how performance to will be monitored.

These objectives adhere to the principles of being Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. As a consequence, thereof monitoring and evaluation will be more targeted and progressive. Pursuant to co-operative governance we have aligned our plans with those of the other spheres of government, more specifically those of KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government.