In an exclusive interview with Grocott's Mail municipal reporter Avuyile Mngxitama-Diko, administrator in Makana Municipality Pam Yako speaks frankly about her task.
In an exclusive interview with Grocott's Mail municipal reporter Avuyile Mngxitama-Diko, administrator in Makana Municipality Pam Yako speaks frankly about her task.
Yako grew up in Grahamstown but lives in Pretoria. She is here for six months, three or four days a week. Her brief is mainly to stabilise the municipality and act on behalf of the province in those functions they feel have been neglected.
This is an edited version of the interview.
How did you feel about Grahamstown when you arrived?
I was a little disappointed with what I saw both in East and West. Even among business people there is no sense of pride in keeping a business painted and maintained. There are a lot of B&Bs and there’s restaurants to go to, so at least thatis a positive thing. But in terms of infrastructure, the look and feel of the place, I am disappointed.
What do you like about Grahamstown?
The history, the heritage, the culture and the people. To walk up the street and people know who you are. I don’t get that anywhere else, so it feels like home. Some of them I can’t recognise because life has taken its toll and some of them I have to explain to them who I am. It's nice small-town living: you can walk to the shops or the bank, stand in a queue.
When you arrived in Makana you said you had to go through a fact-finding exercise…
I had to do two things at the same time: I had to find out what the problem is and at the same time fix it. The expectations have been very high. Having not worked in local government in a long time you forget the closeness that people can just walk in and say, ‘We’ve got a problem.’ It does affect how your plan your day, and what you achieve in a short space of time.
What was your view of the work culture in Makana when you arrived?
You’d be surprised how many people have been on study leave. If they are not writing exams, they are not feeling well. If you look at any organisation, one of the things you look at is the level of absenteeism. The next thing becomes the overtime, because 'the more my colleagues are not there, the more I can work'. I am looking at the issue of overtime very carefully, In the first quarter we are already at 58% of the overtime budget. Something is not right.
Can you talk to us about the issues in the Kabuso Report?
One of the things that was said was that the report was not properly done. I have satisfied myself that it was. I have interviewed the people who commissioned it and looked at the resolutions passed by Council about the investigation. I have met with the people from Kabuso. The problem with the report is that there were certain people that were implicated but they (Kabuso) never went back to them to say, ‘This is our finding. What do you say?’. People are calling for the report to be made public but you first need to close that loophole. What I am doing now is to close those loopholes.
Do you think six months is enough to put things right in Makana?
I don’t think that things will be fixed in six months, I am starting to work on the plan. I have a meeting with stakeholders on Friday (today) and by the beginning of December I will announce the intervention. I would not want to go beyond nine months otherwise I become part of the problem.
See the full verbatim interview and video
