Boosting staff morale and doing spot-checks on official projects are two key measures city bosses resolved to implement in Makana Municipality after a three-day meeting this week.
Boosting staff morale and doing spot-checks on official projects are two key measures city bosses resolved to implement in Makana Municipality after a three-day meeting this week.
"We were also reminding ourselves about the priorities of this financial year – to provide services and infrastructural development," municipal spokesman Mncedisi Boma told Grocott's Mail this week.
Boma reacted with annoyance to Grocott's Mail's report in our Tuesday edition on the Mayoral legkotla at the luxury Fish River Sun resort.
The report suggested that there might have been a leisure element in the outing, given the venue.
Municipal spokesman Mncedisi Boma vehemently denied this. D
uring an interview with Grocott's Mail on Wednesday, Boma said no one should tell them they were 'chilling' while dealing with serious business.
"Dealing with serious business is not chilling," he emphasised.
He explained that the Mayoral lekgotla was a legislated meeting to be held every year by the mayor of a municipality.
"Its objective is assessing how the institution performs and what corrective measures can be taken to improve. We looked at financial expenditure trends and we agreed that we should create a mirror for ourselves and be bold enough to take corrective measures," said Boma.
"We were also reminding ourselves about the priorities of this financial year – to provide services and infrastructural development."
The Mayoral Lekgotla was attended by the mayoral committee and directors, Boma said.
The Mayor had exercised his discretion as to who else should be invited.
"If he feels that a person would add value to the lekgotla it is his decision to invite that person. That is why it is called a Mayoral [legkotla]," Boma explained.
Outlining the most important resolutions taken by the lekgotla, held from Sunday to Tuesday afternoon, Boma said the Mayor planned to improve staff morale at Makana municipality.
"He indicated that he will start a campaign called Ear on the Ground, where he will visit all the sectional departments and deliberate with the workforce."
Boma said Mayor Zamuxolo Peter said at the meeting he had noticed that the staff were demotivated.
"He will meet with the general workers and their managers and listen to their concerns from March," he said.
Another project which Peter is to embark on it the last two quarters of the current financial year is the monitoring of projects funded by Makana municipality.
"The mayor has already started with these walkabouts from December last year. He has noticed that our monitoring is weak. All the projects funded by the institution will be monitored. The mayor will go around with his entourage and do what we call guerilla visits in all these projects," Boma said.
Boma said these resolutions would be tabled in Council and must be implemented before the end of the financial year, six months from now.
