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.