| |
-
Developed the Directorate of Finance 5 year
Strategic Plan. The strategic plan was presented
and adopted by the Buffalo City Municipal Council;
-
Conducted high level investigative study on
bureaucratic impendiments and bottle necks within
Stores Administration Section; Supply Chain/Procurement
Section and Expenditure: Trade Creditors Section.
The report based on the findings of the investigative
study was presented and approved by the Chief
Financial Officer on behalf of the Buffalo City
Municipality and, subsequent to that the Portfolio
Councillor: Finance endorsed the report in its
entirety;
-
Policies, internal controls and procedures in
relation to specific functional areas such as
the following: Revenue Management Section, Budget
and Treasury Section and, Assets and Risk Section
were put in place (80% of work regarding this
task was completed);
-
Projects relating to the development of operational
plans for sections located within the Directorate
concerned were completed;
-
Policy audit was completed and;
-
Work relating to the identification of institutional
gaps was completed.
GENERAL ACHIEVEMENTS WITHIN
THE CONTEXT OF THE BUFFALO CITY MUNICIPALITY
-
Organised a Bosberaad held on 4 and 5 September
2002 at the East London Golf Club for the Buffalo
City Municipality. The strategic purpose of the
Bosberaad was to outline strategic interventions
and processes regarding the strategic direction
of the Buffalo City Municipality. The theme was:
Improving Organisational Efficiency, Effectiveness
and Sustainability through Transformation and
Restructuring. I was appointed to the Resolution
Committee attached to the Bosberaad overarching
committee comprising of senior officials and senior
members of the Executive Mayoral Committee. This
initiative or intervention led to the turning
around of things at the Buffalo City Municipality
and this culminated to the winning of Vuna national
award;
-
In Sweden in 2002, I was given an assignment
to present a report on the geo-political and socio-economic
situation of the Buffalo City Municipal area on
behalf of the Buffalo City Municipality high powered
delegation, to Gavle Municipality delegation.
The Buffalo City Municipality delegation was led
by the then Executive Mayor: Mr Sindisile Maclean,
accompanied by senior mayoral committee members,
senior officials and one member of the oppossition
party. Gavle Municipality was represented by the
Mayor, senior officials and members of oppossition
parties;
-
Developed a Communication Strategy to curb the
proliferation of vandalism within the Buffalo
City Municipal area. The purpose was to create
awareness on far reaching implications caused
by acts of vandalism. The strategy was adopted
by the Buffalo City Municipal Council;
-
Chairperson of the Project Team entrusted with
the responsibility of establishing ward committees
through out the Buffalo City Municipal area, in
terms of the Local Government: Municipal Systems
Act No. 32 of 2000 and, was the first incumbent/official
to be entrusted with such an operational manade;
-
Rendered administrative and professional support
to the following statutory mechanisms: Mayoral
Committee, Municipal Council, Standing Committees,
Sub-Committees including special meetings. As
the Council Support Manager, the head of Council
Support Department, it was my responsibility to
ensure that everything was in place pertaining
to administrative efficiency and effectiveness;
-
Former chairperson of the Job Evaluation Committee
in the Amathole Region. The committee is charged
with the responsibility of grading or evaluating
job descriptions of municipalities located within
the Amathole District Municipalty’s jurisdictions.
I am an accredited job evaluator in terms of TASK
(Tuned Assessment of Skills and Knowledge);
-
Presented high level reports to Municipal Council
meetings, Mayoral Committee meetings, relevant
Standing Committee meetings, Tender Committee
meetings (now known as the Bid Committee) and
Restructuring sub-committee meetings;
-
Centrally involved in the development of the
City Manager’s departmental functional structure
including the Organisational Support departmental
functional structure;
-
Released press statements on the progress made
on the establishment of ward committees and quite
often was on Radio CKI talkshows on the importance
and the role of ward committees regarding direct
participatory democracy;
-
Resolved community conflicts emanating from
competing community interests regarding the establishment
of ward committees and the rendering of social
services to communities;
-
Conducted and facilitated workshops on ward
committees for ward councillors, councillors in
general and deployees. Outlined the legislative
framework within which the concept of participatory
democracy is located;
-
Presented concept papers on Buffalo City Municipality
institutional restructuring scenarios to the Restructuring
Sub-Committee, comprising of councillors and senior
officials;
-
Organised a city network meeting of minds event
in 2003, on behalf of the Buffalo City Municipality.
The purpose was to create a networking process
within the third sphere of government, to share
and exchange diverse ideas and experiences on
challenges confronting municipalities. Councillors;
senior officials and municipal managers from Johannersburg
Unicity Council; Mangaung Municipality and Buffalo
City Municipality were involved in this process;
-
Organised a farewell function for the erstwhile
East London Municipal Councillors under the leadership
of the then Mayor of erstwhile - East London Municipality;
-
Did speech writing for the Mayor of the erst-while
East London Municipality: Mr Lulamile Nazo, in
2000;
-
Provided advice services to the Mayor of the
erst-while East London Municipality on complex
and hidden dynamics within the insttitution, which
might have positive or negative consequences;
-
Facilitated workshops for communities on challenges
facing service delivery;
-
Early 2003, I was invited by the South African
Local Government Association on behalf of the
Buffalo City Municipality (Salga, Eastern Cape)
to present a paper on Buffalo City Municipality
perspective on Performance Management to a conference
held in East London. The conference was attended
by senior officials from the Provincial Department
of Local Government, Housing and Traditional Affairs,
councillors and senior municipal officials from
municipalities within the Eastern Cape Province
and, consultants and civil organisations from
within and outside the Eastern Cape Province;
-
Administratively, I did take part in the amalgamation
processes that led to inception of the Buffalo
City Municipality under the administrative leadership
of the then Chief Executive Officer of the erst-while
East London Municipality, Mr Ongley (amalgamation
of the erst-while East London Municipality; King
William’s Town Municipality and the surrounding
areas into a new single municipal entity by the
name of Buffalo City Municipality and so forth.
-
Development of Annual Strategic Plans for the
Council Support Department
Synopsis of Work Achievements
or projects within the context of the erst-while Ghramstown
Municipality currently known as the Makana Municipality
-
Developed employment equity guidelines
-
Established management-union forum and was the
chairperson of the forum structure.
-
Developed guidelines and procedures regarding
the awarding of bursaries
-
Developed guidelines and procedures on how interviews
must be conducted to ensure fairness
-
Conducted in-house training for staff members
irrespective of their positions in the organisation
-
Developed a policy on long service awards
-
Developed guidelines and procedures on recruitment
of staff
-
Developed guidelines on exist interviews
-
Developed guidelines and procedures on the induction
of staff
-
Compiled annual reports on the state of human
resources
-
Chairperson of employment equity committee comprising
of departmental heads and representative trade
unions,
-
Chairperson of the Albany Training Board, the
subordintate structure of the Eastern Cape Provincial
Training Board (this body was replaced by the
advent of SETAs (Sector Eduction Training Authorities)
- this body was facilitating the identification
of training needs for the municipalities within
its jurisdictions, of course in consultation with
them. And also provided funding for such training
needs.
PROJECTS COMPLETED DURING
MY TENURE AT THE GRAHAMSTOWN DISTRESS RELIEF ASSOCIATION
(GADRA) AS THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CO-ORDINATOR/FACILITATOR
-
Identified poverty stricken individuals within
the community of Grahamstown, to benefit from
the Soup Kitchen facilities and services;
-
Facilitated workshops on life skills for communities
falling within my operational mandate;
-
Conducted educational workshops for co-operatives
and self help projects (such as how to manage
and administer project’s key performance
areas and how to do bookkeeping etc);
-
Referred needy people to relevant establishments
(such as Welfare Institutions; Home Affairs Department
to ensure compliance with legal requirements;
Social Worker’s Establishments; Health Establishments,
Educational Establishments and so forth);
-
Facilitated the establishment Self Help projects
for the needy people (such as Community Gardens;
Sewing Groups; Spiritual and Emotional Support
Groups and Community Network Groups);
-
Facilitated the establishment of co-operatives
within our area of jurisdiction (such as Netwire
Co-operatives - these people fenced the yards
of their customers/clients);
-
Was a local, regional and national contact person
regarding Co-operative’s initiatives and;
-
In 1989, I was entrusted with the responsibility
of convening an Eastern Cape Summit on Co-Operatives.
SYNOPSIS OF ACTIVITIES DURING
MY TENURE AS A FULL TIME STUDENT AT RHODES UNIVERSITY
1992 – 1995
-
Member of the South African Student Congress
(Sasco);
-
Assisted the then Head of Department: Sociology
and Industrial Sociology’s Professor Johan
Koetzee, in monitoring the first all race national
elections held on 27 April 1994;
-
Assisted the abovementioned Professor in interviewing
ex-Robben Island Prisoners;
-
During vacation, I did some admin work for the
Main Administration Department and assisted the
then Assistant Registrar:Ms Judy Hilton Green,
in ensuring that everything was inorder regarding
administration and, ensured that Post Grad and
PhD students were attended to during lull periods;
-
On certain occasions, I assisted the then Deputy
Head: Main Library, Mr Michael Berning in executing
his administration work and, ensured that books
on short-loan were returned to the short-loan
section within stipulated time-frames inorder
to ensure fair utilisation of such books by all
students and;
-
Did play an active role in discussions and debates
around the transformation of Rhodes University;
-
Did volunteer work for charity organisations
as part of my social responsibilty.
Synopsis of achievements
and activities of the Principal Job Evaluation Committee
of the Eastern Cape Region 1 during the year Mr C.
M. Mbekela was deputy Chairperson (August 2003 to
September 2003) and Chairperson (October 2003 to September
2004). Mr Mbekela was an employer (South African Local
Government Association-Salga) representative on the
PJEC.
-
Facilitated a workshop with Job Evaluation Managers
and Chairpersons of the Principal Job Evaluation
Committees from other Eastern Cape Regions, also
attended by the National Project Manager. The
functions and responsibilities of the PJEC and
JE Managers were clarified.
-
Facilitated a job description writing workshop
for Job Description Writers from category B Municipalities.
-
Visited all 9 Municipalities in the PJEC’S
area of jurisdiction in an outreach programme,
inorder to investigate progress and problems encountered
in the jodb description writing process. This
fact finding mission resulted in a booklet being
compiled based on the findings.
-
Facilitated meetings with Employers,Trade Unions
and and Local Labour Forums (LLFS) from each of
the 9 Municipalities, in order to fast track the
process of job decription writing.
-
Facilitated internal Strategic Workshops to
establish the wayforward for the Principal Job
Evaluation Committee.
-
Implemented various policies, plans, procedures
and processes to aid the job evaluation process:
• Filing Systems
• Operational Plans
• Strategic Plans, including Communication
Strategy
• Profiling of the Principal Job Evaluation
Committee in terms of having its own Golf T
Shirts, Caps and Bags, as well as in terms of
communicating with the media.
• Successfully graded 200 jobs from 3
municipalities: Amathole District Municipality,
Buffalo City Municipality and Amahlathi Municipality,
by using the TASK (Tuned Assessment of Skills
and Knowledge) system.
• Facilitated the Training and Development
Programmes for PJEC members such as advanced
computer training.
The stepping down of Mr C. M. Mbekela as a member
and the Chairperson of the PJEC, was the result of
a request from Buffalo City Municipality’s Chief
Financial Officer, for him to be released so as to
assist the Directorate of Finance in the development
of the 5 Year Strategic Plan, Policy Development and
Policy Gap Analysis and other related issues.
|
