06 Mar 2017

 Chairperson of the standing orders committee Kweneng District Council has assured councillors that they will take note of suggestions made towards the review of the council’s standing orders.

In an interview during the special full council meeting last week, Mr Motlhophi Leo said the committee would take heed of councillor’s comments as they would add value to the final document.

He said the review of the standing orders was expected to improve service delivery by helping in coordination process.
He cited recommendation 22, which focused on the consultative forum to enable council political leadership to meet with management and other stakeholders to discuss issues of mutual concern.

“The forum aims to promote and seek unity of purpose and coordination effort around the district, develop priorities and ensure efficient service delivery,” he said. He said the consultative forum should be able to facilitate a meeting with Members of Parliament (MPs) in the district, as there had always been need for input from the MPs. He said there were no forums where the leadership could meet with the MPs to discuss issues that drive service delivery in the district.

Briefing councillors earlier on, he said some of the recommendations were such that a councillor may not be granted leave of absence if it would compromise the quorum of the meeting. He said the reviews also took note of code of conduct and behavior of members at council sittings with emphaisis on disciplinary action by the council chairperson, either by expelling a member from the house or convening some disciplinary proceedings under the BALA code of conduct.

As per recommendation 26, he explained that the council secretary must during the end of 1st and 3rd session of council, submit to the council, progress report on the implementation of each resolution of the council and this would be accompanied by a comprehensive bounded book of all council resolutions for easy reference and implementation.

Also, he said all motions that were to be submitted to the council chairperson for debate before the full council, shall be screened and approved for submission to the main council by chairpersons of respective sub-districts, where councillors reside.

Mr Leo explained that the review was last done in 2011 and given the changing times, it was necessary to match it to the Local Government Act, which was revised in 2012. He said all the stakeholders including dikgosi, landboard, the district commissioner as well as the council’s political and administrative wings were consulted during the proces. ENDS