Just as the Makana Municipality scraped together enough funds to participate in the Southern Africa Inter Municipal Games, employees decided to call off the trip. The Municipal Games, aiming to bring together municipalities from various countries in the subcontinent, was scheduled to take place in Swaziland from 24 – 30 September. Despite efforts made by council to approve the trip, costing R263 000, Makana employees failed to make it to the tournament.
Just as the Makana Municipality scraped together enough funds to participate in the Southern Africa Inter Municipal Games, employees decided to call off the trip. The Municipal Games, aiming to bring together municipalities from various countries in the subcontinent, was scheduled to take place in Swaziland from 24 – 30 September. Despite efforts made by council to approve the trip, costing R263 000, Makana employees failed to make it to the tournament.
Grocott's Mail reported in August that representatives from the municipality were keen to attend this event, but they were only able to raise less than half of the required funds for the trip. However, funding was eventually acquired and the employees got the green light to attend the Municipal Games.
Now at a recent council meeting in September, a report was tabled from the Municipal Manager's office to the council, to revoke the council's decision that the municipality should participate in the games. The report read: "A meeting was held with all sporting codes where a decision to call off the trip was taken." The report added that it is hoped that the budget will be retained for the future Municipal Games.
The report attempted to explain how the employees came to their decision. It stated that because of demonstrations and protests that have recently taken place in Swaziland, employees raised concerns about their safety if they were to go there. The municipality contacted the South African Embassy and, "Unfortunately, the embassy was non-committal. They said that they could neither encourage nor discourage the municipality from travelling to Swaziland," the report stated.
There were in any case a few councillors who did not support this trip, as they said that there were other issues that needed the funding more. At a previous council meeting, Councillor Lena May voiced her opinion that it would just be a waste of tax payers' money. "The Makana Municipality must rescind its decision to send a sports team to Swaziland… the money could be used more constructively," she said.
Councillor Brian Jackson was in agreement with this statement.
Executive Mayor Zamuxolo Peter said that the report should not be termed as rescinding the resolution that the council took. "We have given them the money and they decided not to go," he said.
One of Mayor Peter's priorities for the municipality is to promote health and wellness within the institution to improve employees' overall wellness and increase their productivity. To this effect the municipality has employed a wellness practitioner.
