Interim Mayor ‘Waxola’, team target job creation
MANZINI – Mxolisi ‘Waxola’ Mabuza, the Interim Mayor of Manzini, says the development they want in the city is centred around creating job opportunities.
Mabuza said this during the interim council’s inaugural special meeting where he and his deputy, Zinhle Matsebula, were swornin as councillors. The meeting was held at the municipality’s chambers yesterday morning and it followed their appointment on November 1, 2022 by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Prince Simelane.
In his inaugural speech, Mabuza thanked the minister for trusting them to lead the municipality during such trying times. He said the mandate of the municipality was development of the city and this should happen despite the prevailing difficult situation in the country and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A fully developed city is one that creates job opportunities and this is what we want as a local authority,” the interim mayor said.
He said the idea behind this mandate was that if more people would be employed, the crime rate would decrease and this would create a conducive environment for investors to work in the city and country as a whole.
Again, he said as the hub of the country, they advocated for 24-hour operations as that could play a major role in stimulating the economy. On another note, Mabuza said as a municipality, they would engage all stakeholders and get them involved in the plans of council, as they worked towards achieving a crime-free smart city.
Meanwhile, the representative from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Gordon Mbuli, asked the councillors not to let the minister down, as he appointed them based on trust. He said they came into office at a time when the ministry was preparing for local government elections. In that regard, he requested them to assist the ministry to have successful local government elections. He said they could do that by guiding the Municipal Council of Manzini, as it was preparing for the elections, which would be held next year on a date yet to be announced by the minister.