Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM) council is in operation following the election of its executive in a council meeting at Roydon Nature Reserve recently.
Former Intsika Yethu troubled Mayor Jongumzi Cengani was elected as council speaker unopposed. Cengani appeared in court in 2019 on allegations of sexual harassment and assaulting a municipal official. His salary was, at some stage, docked by council after it deemed him absent without leave.
Wongama Gela, the ANC regional chairperson, and Noncedo September Caba were elected as Executive Mayor and Deputy Executive Mayor respectively for the second term, while Nobantu Macingwane became the new council’s chief whip.
Delivering his maiden speech, Gela said he was emotional about being entrusted with such a responsibility.
“The communities needs are an important leg of what constitutes a municipality. We want to remind those who were councillors in the previous administration, the new councillors and the representatives from local municipalities that we will rally behind vision 2030. We hope everyone will play a role in the successful implementation of that vision,” Gela said.
During the local government election campaigns, he said, the ANC learnt that the people were becoming impatient.
“We will listen to the opposition councillors, and we will consider what you say. If you convince us we will agree with you. We also want to build on some positives from the last administration. We will all shoulder the important responsibility to ensure that the economy makes a dent on poverty and close the inequality gap,” he said.
Gela added that if members of the mayoral committee (MMC) kept submitting sick notes from doctors, resulting in the municipality being suspicious, the municipality will exercise its right to refer the said member to a doctor of choice for verification.
“I expect MMCs at work daily with performance agreements to be signed. I will not be afraid to recommend the disciplinary of underperforming MMCs. If you don’t perform you must go, even if you are the regional chairperson of the ANC. We must take our responsibility seriously as elected councillors and not fail the people of the district,” he said.
September Caba was elected as the Deputy Executive Mayor and will be responsible for water and sanitation and its infrastructure maintenance.
Other members of the Mayoral Committee include:
- Sinomtha Lali – Community services
- Siyabulela Nxozi – Budget and treasury
- Thumeka Bikwana – Corporate services
- Sibongile Mbotshane – Integrated planning and economic development
- Bongeka Nobuntu – Infrastructure
- Thembisile Bobo – Special programmes unit.
Gela said the executive committee will have to submit quarterly reports of the work they have done.
