Under his leadership, Mayor Cllr Makhosini Nkosi together with his political and administrative team embarked on a series of public consultative meetings under the Annual Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Budget Roadshow Program, which commenced from the 26^th of April to the 11^th of May 2017.

Under the theme, Navigate through the Storm and Seas, the purpose of the roadshows was to present the 2017/18 draft budget and to inform the public about the municipality’s achievements and projects that have been implemented in the previous financial years.

The consultative process is mandated by the Local Government Systems Act no 32 of 2000 and this Act calls for municipalities to encourage and create conditions for the local community to participate in the affairs of the municipality. The roadshows therefore serve as the forum of engaging and listening to the views of the communities and business sectors in Newcastle.

“It is no secret that the municipality’s financial state is not all that good but we have put together plans and strategies to help eradicate the situation, this is in line with the municipality’s initiative in encouraging public participation in the municipality’s budget allocations and to promote transparency as well as encourage the culture of saving”, said Nkosi.

Mayor urged young people to choose careers that would enable them to find employment and benefit from the infrastructure development. “It was for this reason that the Mayoral Bursary Scheme was introduced. The municipality is in dire need of engineers and people to work in the finance department, so we need young people to study these scarce skill courses so they can assist the municipality”, he alluded.

“It is imperative that we provide people with dignified basic services through infrastructure, water & sanitation and electricity. There are areas in the Eastern part of Newcastle that have been identified for infrastructure development which will assist in the socio-economic growth”, concluded the Mayor.

All the roadshows were well attended by the community in different wards but the challenge still remains that a lot still needs to be done to alleviate lives of the Newcastle residents.

SAPS will also be on a look out this Easter

The Easter holiday season is synonymous with high crash and accident rates which claims too many lives and or incurs injury to our citizens. This ultimately negatively affects the country’s economy by millions of rands.

In order to influence the mindset of road users, it is vital that law enforcers create a euphoria of Omni-presence, especially over this notorious period. It is therefore the intention of Newcastle Traffic Services to embark on a rigorous high visibility weekend in order to suppress road carnages.

On Thursday 13 April 2017, Traffic services hosted a roadblock on Allen Street at Hilldrop. Attending this roadblock was Newcastle Municipality’s Deputy Mayor Cllr D. Sibiya, Executive Strategic Director for Community Services Mr. Mandla Sithole, Manager to the Mayor Mr. Andile Masondo and Chief of Traffic Mr. A.K Anandhaw

Welcome those who were present Deputy Mayor emphasized the importance of having traffic officers on the road during this season, she said that the lives of the passengers and even the drivers depends it.
“Motorists tend to get overly excited this season and end up drinking alcohol whilst driving, we need to send all those to jail because they are putting people’s life in danger. Speed is also a lethal offence, motorists should be held accountable for not adhering to speed limits” said Sibiya

Chief of Traffic Mr. Anandhaw said that there are many factors that contribute to these unacceptable behavior from motorists I.e. High volumes of traffic over a short period- increased travels to places of worship. Easter is the first long break since December holidays, thus migrant workers return to their homes and this increases traffic volumes, KZN is still the preferred tourist destination prior to the winter period.
“Road-user behavior- drivers do not obey rules of the road. They do not ensure that they are buckled up and the latest plague is the cellphone usage whilst driving. Pedestrians are also oblivious to road safety and pose a huge hazard in the road environment.” Continued Anandhaw

The Delegation proceeded to the road where they started spreading messages of road safety to motorists by engaging with them and also handing out road safety kits.

Law enforcers ready for the Easter holiday

Miss Z.P Mabaso receive her price after a Q&A

The Newcastle Municipality’s Department of Water Services held a three day water awareness campaign from the 5^th to the 7^th of April 2017, under the theme Water and Sanitation is a Human Right.

The main objective of the programme was to highlight the  importance of  preserving water and  educate  residents from the rural areas on the importance of yard connections, looking after infrastructure, illegal connections and the water status in Newcastle.

This is what saw the Department of Water Services visiting Lister Farm, Mndozo and Manzana.

Customer Relations Manager: Dr. Dumisani Thabethe said rural communities were the main target for this year as they have discovered that there are more illegal connections and residents are not aware of how to maintain toilets and report water loses in these areas

“We end up having more water losses in these areas, due to lack of awareness on the following; reporting of water problems, and honey sucker damage as a result of residents throwing disposable nappies and other foreign objects inside the toilets, “explained Thabethe.

Thabethe continued to remind residents about the water status of Newcastle from Charlestown, Normandien, Madadeni and Osizweni.

“We had a crisis in December last year where Ntshingwayo Dam was sitting at 40%. It was a difficult period and we ended up closing water and reopening the taps in the morning. We also had to reduce water consumption by 30% as per the directive by the Department of Water and Sanitation, “he stated.

Thabethe said Newcastle was fortunate enough for favorable weather conditions due to the recent heavy rains as the dam is currently sitting at 95%. He added however that this did not mean people should waste water.

“95% is nothing if we continue to waste water because we just might a have a drop to 10% as in the Western Cape which has been declared a disaster area because of the heavy drought,”he said.

P.R councilor Ruben Molelekwa said it would be sad if Newcastle had to run out of water that will require the provincial government to bring in trucks as it has been done in other towns.

“Let’s preserve water, without water there is no life, “added Molelekwa

He also added that ward councilors work tirelessly and go out of their way to ensure that services come closer to the people but if people vandalize and waste them, it becomes a setback for the municipality. He urged residents to take better care of water and other services as they will have no choice but to stop delivering in the same area as they are going around the same circle, he said.

Ntuthuko Madlala from customer care warned residents about the dangers of illegal connections and urged them to come forward and make applications for new connections at a cost of R1 900. The connection according to Madlala is a 21 working day process. He said it was important for each household to legally connect their own taps to avoid conflicts.

“When you connect illegally, you end up fighting with neighbors and it now becomes the burden of the municipality and the police while they were not there when you decided to break the law, “he said.

Madlala also reminded residents that if they connect legally, they have free access to services in case of leakages, residents can call the municipality to come and fix any problems.

The campaign ended on a high note as residents walked away with water buckets, t-shirts and water bottles after participating in a series of questions concerning water. 

NADO Entertainers performing educational songs for the public

local artists entertaining the public

water campaign task team taking food to a feeding scheme