Official Quarterly Newsletter January - March 2019 MOPANI HOST EDUCATION EXCELLENCE AWARDS Pg6 Pg14 2 elcome to another edition of End in sight for Lenyenye Mopani Bulletin for the third Wquarter which highlights a stench as project number of service delivery related stories and events that were captured all to concludes inform recipients of services rendered by the Mopani District Municipality. It is .........pg 5 through this platform where we are able to communicate service delivery strides that we are making to improve the lives of Challenges of shortages Deputy Manager Communications communities across the five local Witness Tiva [email protected] of water in Maruleng municipalities. The stories that have been covered will go a long way to restore hope among communities. local Municipality Most stories are highlighting efforts that are being put in place by the being resolved political head of the institution, Executive Mayor Councillor Nkakareng Rakgoale, Councillors, senior managers and other officials of the District ........pg 6 Municipality. The communication team is determined to ensure that all newsworthy stories from across the district are covered. Let me also take this Executive Mayor deliver opportunity to appreciate our colleagues from the media and local uniform, pledge to build municipalities who are also doing their best to cover service delivery stories that are happening within our District Municipality. The Mopani District's house for Sithole family communication would go unnoticed if it was not of the cooperation we are ........pg 8 getting from the media and fellow communicators. District government communicators and Government Communication Information System representatives are also holding quarterly forums that District (IGR) are creating a platform for them to share best practices in the sector. It also Inter-Governmental helps to align the communication strategies of the District and Local Municipalities with that of the National Government. This is also done to Forum lauds ward improve the manner in which we are communication with the people we committees in address serve on a daily basis. Readers of this publication are urged to give harvesting campaign feedback on the content of this quarterly edition. Such feedback can be sent to the contact details provided above. ........pg 10 Excellence Awards .......pg 13 MPAC ........pg 14 New Regional Mall opens in Giyani Graphic Designer Communications Researcher Mapula Legodi Odas Ngobeni ........pg 19 [email protected] [email protected] 3 e have come to the end of the third quarter of 2018/19 Financial Year, and Wwe are entering yet another critical phase in the IDP/Budget processes. Our public participation program is imminent, and we wish to take this opportunity and urge our communities to give inputs on the draft, so that our final determination at the level of council is better informed by the wishes of our people. Allow me to congratulate municipalities that have been performing better in the MIG spending as pronounced by Premier Stan Mathabatha during his State of the Province Address. Four of our six municipalities are amongst the top 10 municipalities in the province on MIG spending. Greater Letaba Municipality is leading municipalities on MIG spending followed by Maruleng Local Municipality. Ba-Phalaborwa local Municipality and the Mopani District Municipality are also amongst the top ten. The fact that we have the most number of municipalities falling within the top ten bracket in the province, speaks to our commitment to improve the quality of lives of the people we are serving in our district. As the Mopani District Municipality we must also take pride in congratulating municipalities that have recorded improved audit outcomes from the 2017/18 Auditor General's report. We congratulate again the Greater Letaba Municipality for obtaining an unqualified audit opinion. We also congratulate Maruleng Local Municipality for also receiving unqualified audit opinion. By and large, all our municipalities are showing a clear commitment to improve their audit outcomes, and we are quite confident that things can only get better going forward. As leadership, we are worried about the amount of water we are losing due to illegal connections and vandalism on our water infrastructure. We are also constantly having to respond to water challenges in areas where our infrastructure is vandalised and our equipment stolen. We are making an appeal once again to our communities, that let us safeguard state property. In areas where we have drilled boreholes, the community must make sure that such is protected at all times. The other challenge we are facing is that we have not had enough rainfall over the summer season, and the dam levels have not increased as expected. We are continuing to call on communities to use water sparingly. In just less than six weeks from now, we are going to the polls as a nation. President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared May 8th as the date for the National and Provincial Elections. We are again making a call to all our registered voters to go and vote. We appreciate the work done by our ward committees in assisting the Independent Electoral Commission during its Campaign on Voter Address Harvesting. Indeed, you have shown your commitment to strengthen democracy in our country. Let us join President Cyril Ramaphosa on this journey of growing South Africa together. 4 Members of the Mayoral Committee visit the Middle Letaba water purification plant ater supply capacity of the Middle Letaba purification plant has increased after 15 Wsegmentation tanks that were blocked with mud were cleared. The water purification capacity has increased from 15 to 20 million litres per day. This follows an intervention by the Mopani District Municipality Executive Mayor Councillor Nkakareng Rakgoale, who deployed Members of the Mayoral Committee to the plant to get first-hand information on the technical challenges experienced there. The MMCs were accompanied by Alson Matukane, who is a member of the advisory team to the Department of Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Advisor to Minister of Water and Sanitation Alson Nkwinti. Matukane interacting with MMC for Water Services Homegirl Zandamela, MMC for Sports, A team of technicians from the Mopani District Arts and Culture Matshidiso Mokgobi and MMC for Municipality has also managed to repair some of Agriculture Masilo Maloko during their visit to the the water pumps that were dysfunctional before the Middle Letaba purification plant. visit by the MMCs. The Middle Letaba Dam is supplying water to communities in some parts of Mopani and Vhembe District Municipalities. Member of the Mayoral Committee responsible for Finance Japisa Mathonsi who led the delegation says there are plans to resuscitate four boreholes that are at the precinct of the purification plant, as the Middle Letaba Dam levels have dropped to eight percent due to drought. The boreholes are intended to augment water supply capacity of the water scheme. “As the district municipality we are happy that segmentation tanks have been cleared. We will also make sure that we come with plans to fix the four boreholes that have been vandalised by A team of MMCs, technicians and Mr Alson criminals. We believe that when the boreholes are Matukane inspecting manholes at the Middle equipped water provision to our communities who Letaba Purification plant. are benefiting from this plant will no longer be disrupted, “said Mathonsi. Meanwhile security has been deployed at the plant to ensure that the water infrastructure is protected at all times. Previously Eskom transformers and borehole machines were stolen at the plant. Communities are urged to join hands with the Mopani District Municipality and law enforcement agencies to clamp down on theft and vandalism of water infrastructure. Some of the water pumps repaired by the Mopani District Municipality technicians. 5 End in sight for Lenyenye stench as project concludes Ward 31 Councillor, Justice Ramodipa doing inspection with Gift Mongwe who is the Site Manager at the Lenyenye Sewer Plant Ward 31 Councillor, Justice Ramodipa next to the emergency sewer pond at the Lenyenye Sewage Plant. Mopani District Municipality has completed the upgrading of Lenyenye Sewage Plant, which will bring an end to a stench that troubled the residents of that community for years. The project which cost just under R42 million, involved the construction of RBC unit, drying beds, disinfection unit, construction of inlet canal, construction of manholes, installation of sluice gates, installation of walk ways, installation of rotors, installation of crawler beams, installation of aerators on the emergence pond, electrification of the system and a power generator. The contractor is finalizing concrete palisade fencing at the plant. Ward 31 Councillor, Justice Ramodipa who has been leading the ward since 2011 says the stench will stop once the old sewage pond is closed off. “This project took longer than it should have due to technical problems. We have to appreciate the patience of this community that has to put up with this stench every day. The completion of this project demonstrates our commitment to address service delivery within our communities. “The stench is still there, but it is mainly because the old sewer pond has not been closed off. The closure of the old sewer pond will bring an end to the stench, and that is not something that will take long from now,” said Ramodipa. Ramodipa says the closure of the old sewer pond will also benefit young people in the ward. “We are going to close the pond, but we already have a plan in place to convert it to a sport field. There is a shortage of sport fields in this community, and we think the closure of that pond will create an opportunity for us to make proper preparations to have it used as sport field. “Youngsters have already approached me to say they want to use it for soccer matches, and I said to them they should give us some time to prepare so that we prevent situations where balls will be kicked into the new emergency sewer pond,” added Councillor Ramodipa.