By: Abigail Visagie

As the anticipation grows for the municipal elections next year, Journal News caught up with the mayor of Matjhabeng Local Municipality, Thanduxolo Khalipha, on issues affecting the municipality and its residents, as well as his plans to retain the office.

Thank you for the opportunity to engage with you ahead of the most anticipated upcoming local government elections next year. It is your first term in office as the political head of the municipality. The ANC has shown faith in you despite the challenges you have faced since your election into office. What do you say to that? We have worked hard as the elected administration and the ANC to ensure that the ruling party retains the municipality. We will renew our organisational mandate with the people, we do know that the municipality will still be under the reign of the ANC… come elections. Like I have just mentioned, you have faced so many challenges and criticisms since. Can you share with us what that was all about, or is there any truth in those accusations and criticisms? This is all because we are working in this municipality… that is all. We always welcome constructive criticism we receive. That is because we want our people to play oversight over us. You have mentioned that your administration has done the work in servicing the community of Matjhabeng. What can you list as your achievements to this point? Indeed, we have worked for our people, and I am not saying there haven’t been challenges in the process. We have uncounted challenges too. But I can tell you without any hesitation that we are going to secure victory in this municipality based on the services we provide to our people. How confident are you that the organisation will still have faith in you to lead this municipality should it win elections? Well, I did not put myself here as a mayor, my organisation will decide on that. I was given a term of five years to bring about some changes in the municipality, the second term will be decided by the organisation. What plans do you have in place for the people of Matjhabeng to be able to elect your organisation again? We do have plans that are already working for the people. For instance, we have now embarked on a massive cleaning campaign to educate our people about littering and service delivery. I have also decided to launch a campaign that all municipal employees embark on a cleaning campaign every Friday, and they will be joined by the community. Matjhabeng must be regarded as one of the cleanest towns in the province.

For more on this interview, please log on to www.journalnews.co.za for a full video clip