Cllr Siyaphi Shirilele, Speaker of the Musina Municipal Council, said that Speakers had a major role to play in ensuring that local government executed its role in addressing legislative oversights and delivered prompt services to the people.
Shirilele addressed fellow council Speakers and their support staff during the Vhembe District Speaker's Forum that was held at the Musina Municipal Council Chambers on Thursday, 7 July. The Speaker's Forum is a platform where council Speakers from various municipalities meet and share ideas on how municipal councils should be run with uniformity and as per prescribed legislation.
"This meeting clearly demonstrates that the district development model is practically taking its course as we will now be able to plan under one roof, despite the fact that we all come from different entities. It becomes easier for us to work when we have platforms like this one where we can meet and share our challenges and successes. This platform makes sure that there is cooperation in all municipalities and council meetings are run in a professional and uniform manner," Shirilele said.
Among the issues discussed during the meeting was the empowerment of ward committee members in order for them to carry out their work. The forum agreed that a ward committee conference for ward committee members from all municipalities in Vhembe should take place before the end of September this year. The conference will discuss the ethical requirements of ward committee members, their challenges and how those challenges can be resolved to enhance service delivery.
They also agreed that each local municipality should revive its home-affairs stakeholder forum, whose term is aligned with the local government councils. The home affairs stakeholders forum's main duty is to assist local government in facilitating public-education campaigns, promote population register awareness and resolving problems related to citizens' documentation.