THE mother of two young children aged four and 10, whose school uniforms were burnt to ashes, broke down into tears when the Greater Kokstad Municipality gave them a donation of school uniforms for her kids to be able to attend school without being different from other learners.

The Nyembezi family approached the Municipality on Tuesday to plead with the Greater Kokstad Municipality Mayor, Cllr Lwanda Madikizela to organise school uniforms for them.

With that being said, Mayor Madikizela reached out to a Good Samaritan to rescue the two learners by providing them with much-needed uniforms.

Their uniforms were burnt to ashes in November last year when a fire broke and severely burnt their mother, Shalane Jasson who is now undergoing counselling following reports that she is suffering from sleepless nights due to the trauma.

She had no words when given a chance to express how she felt, instead she cried.

The Father of the kids, Mncedisi Nyembezi further appealed to the Municipality to build them a house as they had to go back home to stay with family.

"There are fourteen of us crammed in a two-roomed house with young kids," he said.

The Municipality Mayor Madikizela pleaded with private businesses to continue donating to impoverished learners because they cannot be deprived of their right to education.

"This is the reason why we wasted no time in responding swiftly to the matter because these are the leaders of tomorrow....and their story is so touching," said the Mayor. He said this is part of their campaigns to encourage young learners to make education fashionable.

The position of a vacant Public Representative (PR) Councillor has been speedily filled by the Greater Kokstad Municipality to ensure continuity with a bias to putting the interests of the community first.

Councillor Nobubele Eunice  Thabethe has been officially inaugurated at the Kokstad Council Chamber recently to fill in the vacancy that was created after the resignation of the former Mayor, Bheki Mtolo.

He (Mtolo) resigned from the Municipality in the past months after having been given another task to take over the political responsibilities of being the provincial secretary of the ruling party in KwaZulu-Natal.

However, Mtolo’s position as the Mayor was filled by the former Speaker, Cllr MNL Madikizela, whose position was filled by Cllr Bheki Nozaza.

The local Magistrate, Mr Thabo Mfingwana, conducted the swearing in of Cllr Thabethe.

Cllr Thabethe is a long serving member of the ruling party who worked in the ANC offices in Kokstad and possesses the experience of being a former Deputy Mayor of Kokstad.

Speaking during the swearing in, the Kokstad Mayor Cllr MNL Madikizela did not doubt the fact that the council will benefit with the addition of Cllr Thabethe saying that: “she is one experienced leader who has been loyal to the ruling party and shown the organisation that it was not about positions to her but being a loyal member of the organisation that is always willing to serve the community at all costs”.

He said despite that, the inauguration fulfills their mission of prioritising women to ensure their independence in the ongoing quest to strive to defeat Gender Based Violence (GBV), which is in many cases caused by the high rate of women being financially dependent on men to survive.

“We are a municipality that strongly believes in equality between men and women as even our management is dominated by females,” said Cllr Mdikizela.

The Council Speaker, Cllr Bheki Nozaza, also echoed the Mayor’s sentiments, saying, “We want more females in the Council and I congratulate Cllr Thabethe for joining the Council”.

Cllr Thabethe expressed that she was excited over her inauguration and vowed to continue working as a servant of the people. 

THE development of the High Court in Kokstad, Southern KwaZulu-Natal is no longer a dream but a reality. This is according to the Greater Kokstad Municipal Manager, Sipho Zwane who, just after the National Department of Public Works presented in the Council that the Department of Justice has approved the building of the High Court in Kokstad, confirmed that the Municipality is fully behind the project.

About R 480 Million has been set aside by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for the construction of the High Court.Following the green light, the Department of Public Works together with the Greater Kokstad Municipality will soon be starting the process of rezoning the land donated by the Municipality to the National Department of Public Works to suit the intended project.

National Department of Public Works Chief Planner, Lawrence Gaxela presented the approval of the government precinct in Kokstad, which will include the High Court, a Police Station and SASSA offices amongst other government services. Gaxela said they would soon be starting with the rezoning of the land and the Municipality has confirmed that the process will take up to three months.

Zwane said they are very proud that the process is starting to stand on its feet and it is no longer a plan or a dream but a reality.The Greater Kokstad Municipality Mayor, Lwanda Madikizela said this goes along with their plan of becoming a City of Economic Possibilities by 2047. “We are doing our best in turning Kokstad into a City as we are gradually transforming the town into a smart City by ensuring that it is dominated by free WiFi spots even in our townships,” said Madikizela.

He added that they are now zooming into plans of a Secondary City, which is in line with visioned expansion of the town.

Madikizela said the Kokstad High Court will result in cost savings as the people of Mthatha and other parts of the Eastern Cape will no longer travel long distances to the high court in Pietermaritzburg.

“Even the Department of Correctional Services will no longer run a risk of having to transport criminals to the Pietermaritzburg High Court and back to our eBhongweni C-Max Prison… criminals will be sentenced here and sent to jail here,” said Madikizela.

He was also delighted that the construction process will create jobs and skills transfer for Kokstad communities. 

AS per chapter 4 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act municipalities must Development a culture of community participation and section 16 subsection 1 one of the same Act states that a “municipality must develop a culture of municipal governance that complements formal representative government with a system of participatory governance”, and must for this purpose encourage, and create conditions for, the local community to participate in the affairs of the municipality.

In keeping with the prescripts of the legislation, the Greater Kokstad Municipality has maintained its obligation of being accountable to its communities and recently successfully held the Integrated Development Programmes (IDP) Roadshows to engage with all communities to shape up its budget according to the challenges, concerns, and the needs of the people.

The Municipality held the IDP Roadshows at all ten wards of Kokstad where people raised different challenges. However, it was not only challenges that were raised during these meetings, but the community also appreciated the work done by the Municipality in their areas in terms of service delivery and improving their lives.

The burning issue that almost dominated in all the Roadshows was potholes/bad roads, crime and land to build houses.

The Greater Kokstad Municipality Mayor, Councillor MNL Madikizela dealt with the challenges saying “the municipality is dealing with all the challenges raised. We are currently busy appointing contractors to repair, resurface and rehabilitate our roads,” said Cllr Madikizela.

He added the issue of housing was also high on the priority list of the Municipality as they are working closely with the Department of Human Settlements to try and find ways to speed up the programme of providing houses for needy members of the communities.

“As we speak, we are planning to build another 1500 units of low cost houses because Kokstad is growing very fast with people immigrating into the town to look for greener pastures,” said Cllr Madikizela.

He said the issue of housing will never be dealt with in a blink of an eye as future business investments and infrastructural plans will invite more people who will come to look for jobs in Kokstad and that automatically increases the number of the population of the town and the Municipality will be under more pressure of building more houses for communities coming into town.

Cllr Madikizela said since South Africa is a democratic state, they cannot prevent people who are flocking into town from other provinces because they will be interfering with their right of movement, which is against the democratic principles.

“Instead, we should work harder and find resources that would meet the challenges we are facing and ensure that we serve every Kokstad resident without fail,” said Cllr Madikizela. The Greater Kokstad Municipal Manager, Mr Sipho Zwane has always been part of the Roadshows and gave inputs where needed.

He also appreciated and conveyed words of gratitude to Kokstad residents for always being part of municipal programmes.

The presence of Councillors as per their wards and ward committees to honour the IDP Roadshows was also acknowledged.