Ntengenyana calls for public participation in developing IDP

Hold officials accountable, says MM

Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality municipal manager Ayakha Ntengenyana has called on communities to take part in EMLM’s public participation meetings to ensure officials and councillors are held accountable.

Ntengenyana was speaking at the Civic and Ratepayers Association of Enoch Mgijima (CRAEM) annual general meeting at the Wesley Methodist Church Hall on Wednesday evening.

She said public participation meetings assisted in holding municipal officials and community leaders accountable.

“We do things our own way. EMLM is the amalgamation of three entities and we still have to develop bylaws for the municipality.

“If you don’t participate in the development plan of the bylaws and don’t make representation as interested groups and individuals, you won’t have a say in those bylaws.

“We will be telling you what to do and when to do it,” she said.

Ntengenyana said public participation was important as annual reports were presented to the people first before they were tabled in council.

“These reports are tabled after we have consulted with the people,” she said.

Speaking about the financial recovery plan (FRP) and the Integrated Development Planning (IDP), Ntengenyana said the FRP focused on the municipality’s operations and did not change anything in the IDP.

“The IDP is the planning, while the FRP influences the policy and talks on how we can translate our plans into being implemented.

“The FRP guides us in terms of implementation,” she said.

“The FRP does not influence your planning, but when you implement, it kicks in.

“The FRP has its own pillars which are governance, financial management, human resource and service delivery.

“It looks to these pillars, it also checks if you have a master plan,” she said.

Economic development and planning director Khulile Maceba said the IDP was the basis of planning and development of the municipality.

“After a council is elected within the prescribed timeframe, it has to develop its own IDP, which is an inclusive strategic plan for the development of that municipality,” Maceba said.

“That strategy links and integrates and coordinates the plans that takes into account proposals for the development of the municipality,” he said.

He said if council did not develop the IDP, then it would cease to be a municipality.

“The IDP aligns the capacity of the municipality with its implementation plan.

“That IDP forms the basis on which the annual budget of the municipality is based.

“It also informs the planning of other spheres of government because it is an inclusive plan for the development of that particular municipality,” Maceba said.

He called on communities to be involved in the development of the municipality’s IDP.

“A municipality is not a municipality if there is no community engagement and that is why we encourage communities to go to those meeting as it is those meetings that shape the direction which the municipality must take.

“It is where we begin to plan the economy and the development of the municipality,” he said.

The ratepayers association s chair, Dr Pieter Prinsloo, encouraged people to take part in the public participation meetings.

“People are complaining that there is nothing happening at the municipality but they don’t participate in these public participations.

“As CRAEM, we are perceived as a ward 10 organisation, now we want to reach to other civic organisations and broaden the base of CRAEM.

“We want to work better with other civic organisations,” he said.

He said the association was working on a strategy to work with councillors, and if they were not doing their jobs, it would apply pressure on them.

He said new leaders were to be elected at the AGM but it did not meet its quorum.

The executive would continue to lead and co-opt members to fill vacant positions.