06 Jun 2022

Lobatse Town Council (LTC) has unanimously elected Mr Mosimanegape Dithebe as its new mayor in a special full council meeting on Monday. 

Mr Dithebe who was unchallenged for the post, replaced Mr Essop Pandor who served as the mayor for two and half years beginning November 2019. 

Mr Dithebe who is a specially elected councilor, was the only candidate proposed and seconded for the post, and was therefore declared by the presiding officer as the new mayor of LTC. The new deputy mayor is Mr Phemelo Masisi, who was also unchallenged for the post. 

Mr Masisi who is Peleng Central Ward councilor, took over from Maokaneng Ward councilor Ms Tiny Dinoko. 

Mr Dithebe said he was humbled and honored to be btrusted with the responsibility to lead LTC. 

He urged council to reset and put more effort towards developing Lobatse.

"The people of Lobatse are hungry for us to do more and do better. It is now upon all of us to recognise the mandate as a challenge and work for our beloved town. We as Lobatse Town Council need to make hard choices and decide on actions to propel the economic status of residents and eventually that of the general economy," said the new mayor.

 He committed to making local empowerment, constant stakeholder collaboration, project management, waste collection, revenue collection and vegetation control, priorities in his first 100 days of office. "… to transform the economic status of our residents… it is paramount that we put our people in the forefront as we maneuver through the current global economic crisis," he said. 

Mr Dithebe added that it was important to strengthen stakeholder collaboration in order to achieve better service delivery. He also said there was need for better project management in the development and refurbishment of infrastructure in Lobatse. 

The new mayor said there was urgent need to expedite project implementation to ensure delivery of Infrastructure. Saying he would prioritise waste collection, he called for new sustainable methods of vegetation control in the town to promote safety of motorists and pedestrians. 

"We have all noticed that waste collection has been a major pain as a community. For us to improve general collection and eventually recycle sold waste, we need to embark on a public education campaign for better management of waste," he said. 

Mr Dithebe further called for improvement of revenue collection, which he pointed out had been relatively poor over the years and affected service delivery. He said LTC would embark on a campaign to sensitise the community on the importance of paying their council levies and other fees.

 "I am looking forward to building a formidable political and administrative team which will elevate Lobatse to greater heights desired by the community we serve," he said. ends