MM’s mission to restore ADM
Mnyimba to tackle finances, develop region
ATTAINING financial stability and bringing the Amathole District Municipality back to “its former glory”, are some of the top priorities on the to-do list of its newly appointed municipal manager Thandekile Mnyimba.
Mnyimba, the former municipal manager of Ngqushwa Municipality, officially took over the reins from Chris Magwangqana at the beginning of this month.
Speaking to the Saturday Dispatch this week, Mnyimba said he aimed to deal with the municipality’s debt of more than R150-million and build up its cash reserves.
He inherits a council with a R1.9-billion annual budget.
However, the ADM has been hit hard by dwindling finances – at one point it could not pay all its creditors and struggled to pay salaries.
Some of the municipality’s infrastructure projects also had to be halted in recent years due to a lack of funds, while some of their prized assets had to be sold to make ends meet.
Some local municipalities within ADM have been battling water shortages due to the ongoing drought.
This has further placed strain on the ADM’s finances because it is the water services authority for its five local municipalities.
Mnyimba said his immediate tasks were to stabilise the district financially and make it viable for investors.
“I am aware that the responsibility given to me is huge, but we need to ensure that in the next five years, the lives of people in our district are improved for the better.
“This can only be done if we manage to stabilise the municipality financially, pay all out debts and create wealth for the district using our natural resources such as our untapped 200km of coastline.”
Mnyimba said in his first week in office he had already met with the district’s finance bosses, who informed him of a R151-million liability that they were struggling to settle.
“I was told that such debt will soon be cut down to R44-million.
“I told them we need to cut the debt, stabilise the municipality and work on building cash reserves so that if we could not be able to get revenue for three months, we will still be able to operate,” said Mnyimba.
He said his council also needed to “manage” their 1 800 staff complement as it was “too huge”.
“We really need to review our organogram, but I can assure you that no one will lose their jobs during that process.”
He said they needed to “run the municipality like a proper business” and improve audits to attract much-needed investors.
Provision of decent water services, Mnyimba said, was also critical because without it development would not take place.
He said the municipality’s R630-million sanitation project, halted amid a financial crisis and other irregularities two years ago, was ready to move ahead.
The project had been taken over by the national water and sanitation department, which would complete it between now and August.
Mnyimba also emphasised the importance of prioritising renewable energy, infrastructure development and agriculture to attract investors to the region. — asandan@dispatch.co.za