03 Dec 2018

South East District Council (SEDC) has launched a strategic plan under the theme: Nurturing Future Leaders Through Local Governance.

Speaking at a launch in Ramotswa recently, the council chairperson, Mr Phenyo Segokgo, said the strategic plan was tailored to benefit communities.

He stated that the strategic plan formulation included consultation with stakeholders such as bogosi, village development committees and other community leaders.

Mr Segokgo said they would engage the community further so that they could own the plan.

 He said the plan was aligned to the SADC strategy, the District Development Plan 8, National Development Plan 11, Vision 2036 and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development’s plan as well as sustainable development goals.

He said new strategic plan had been adopted by the council and was cascaded to all staff members to ensure ownership.

 “We are not alone in the transformation journey hence stakeholders need to be taken on board,” he said.

 The new strategy, he added, spoke to the council staff to uphold a positive attitude towards work to enable high-performance culture.

 However, he said in formulating the strategy, they realised that they had been neglecting future leaders on issues of governance and they were correcting such.

Council secretary, Mr Nelson Mogapi, highlighted that through the strategy, the South East District Council aspired to be the best local authority.

 In doing so, the council identified areas of local governance, social development and municipal infrastructure as key focal areas.

He further stated that for the plan to bear fruits, there were core issues that ought to be done and this was part of the council’s core values.

 Mr Mogapi highlighted that the council aspired to be an open, honest and accountable association, which the staff was proud to serve.

 He noted that there must be zero tolerance to corruption in the council and added that SEDC wanted to produce quality infrastructure and have a vibrant economy.

 He also said the council wanted to have effective partnerships through building resilient communities, improving project execution as well as development monitoring and evaluation.

 He highlighted that time had come for the council to decentralise some services as well as identify and implement new sources of revenues.

For his part, Batlokwa deputy chief, Kgosi Michael Gaborone hailed the strategic plan saying it was a good transformation plan that required stakeholders support.

 He challenged the council leadership and other authorities to ensure that the community of the district benefitted. ENDS