THE Greater Kokstad Municipal Council has again entrusted its administration to the helm of Municipal Manager, Sipho Zwane following the recruitment processes which resulted in the appointment of Zwane on a contract of another five years as the accounting officer of the Municipality.

The decision was taken just after the Municipality conducted interviews in the presence of stakeholders including media. three candidates were interviewed including the now and newly appointed Municipal Manager, Zwane. However, the fourth candidate excused himself due to commitments.

The Municipality’s Speaker, Councillor Lwanda Madikizela said Zwane’s appointment was based on the points he scored during the interviews, which was more than 89%.

“Apart from that his experience also speaks for itself as he has served in other Municipalities in the KwaZulu-Natal province with honesty, trustworthiness, commitment, diligence and dignity”, said Cllr Madikizela. He added they are one of the few, if not the only Municipality that conducted interviews publicly, which is in line with enhanced transparency with the intent to fight elements of favouritism as everything is done in front of all relevant stakeholders including the unions within the Municipality. “This is a Municipality that employs credible officials with merits and experience and people who are capable to serve our communities rightfully so…,” said Cllr Madikizela.

He said the advantage about Zwane is that he will continue with programmes started even by the former Mayor, Cllr B.M. Mtolo, in which he worked with…so it would be easy to maintain and improve the standard of the Municipality rather than a new person who would require more municipal support in terms of familiarising himself/herself with the various systems of the Municipality.

The Municipal Manager, Zwane appealed to the Kokstad communities to continue working closely with the Municipality to speed up service delivery.

“I am lucky to be working at a Municipality where communities are very unique and who understand the processes of the Municipality very well,” said Zwane.

Speaking to GKM VOICE: He said, “I have developed a strong passion for Kokstad in such a way that the journey we have started with the Municipality last year is an interesting one,” said Zwane. He appealed to the members of the community to not hesitate to approach the Municipality should they find that they are dropping the ball in some aspects, adding that they should feel free to call or approach his office.

Zwane said they will continue to implement a strict management system in the supply chain management unit to ensure they uproot fraud and corruption where it exists. He said apart from the clean bill of health, which the Municipality always receives, that does not supersede the important task of the Municipality which is service delivery.

He said besides other major projects that are in place, they have declared war against potholes in the CBD and surrounding areas as well as in the townships and are also fixing all the streetlights “The programme is monitored every week,” he said. He thanked the leadership of the Greater Kokstad Municipality for the confidence they have in him as the Municipal Manager and in believing in him to retain his position. The deputy Mayor, Karren Walker has welcomed the re-appointment of the Municipal Manager.