King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality is committed to establishing a strong working relationship between the municipality and all traditional leaders within its jurisdiction. Speaker of Council, Cllr Siyo-Sokuthu had a bilateral meeting with traditional leaders of KSD area. The session was held at Nkululekweni Council Chambers on Wednesday, 15 August 2022. The gathering was graced by His Royal Majesty, Abathembu King, Buyelekhaya ‘Ah Zwelibanzi’ Dalindyebo. He extended his warm welcome and also expressed his wish for the meeting’s success.
Giving the purpose of the session, the Honourable Speaker indicated that traditional leaders play a crucial role in the development of stable and cohesive communities. She added that in order to further development and better serve KSD communities, traditional leaders must actively participate in governance programmes.
One of the objectives of the meeting was to discuss the municipal programmes so that the traditional leaders would be aware of what the municipality is doing and that they would be informed before the general public. Office of the Speaker also presented the Application for Outer Boundary Redetermination to the traditional leadership.
This is an endeavour to assist KSD Municipality to achieve its objective of becoming a Metropolitan by 2026. The traditional leaders were exhorted to collaborate with KSD Municipality to enhance the quality of life for KSD communities, as the achievement of a Metro status will result in the creation of economic opportunities, resources, employment, and efficient service delivery.
The traditional leaders welcomed the application and pledged their support to work with the municipality as they have the same goal which is delivering services to the people. They further emphasized the need for the municipality to strengthen the relationship between municipal leadership and traditional leaders so as to ensure effective, responsive and accountable governance for communities.
The Speaker of Council concluded by stating that it is critical for the municipality and traditional leaders to discuss and engage robustly on all issues that affect KSD communities, such as the high crime rate, gender-based violence, poverty and inequality; and come up with amicable solutions.
